1845.] du Buddhism Indien, par E. Burnouf. 805 



regular body. One of the first results was the establishment of Viharas, 

 or monasteries, situated in forests or gardens, where the religious assem- 

 bled to assist in the preaching of their master. These Viharas, however, 

 were at first not establishments, to which the ascetics retired for their 

 whole life ; on the contrary, they first were only places for temporary 

 sojourn, or according to etymology, places where they sojourned, and 

 the origin of the term is expressed in the very formula, which com- 

 mences every Sutra, " At a certain time Sakya sojourned (viharati sma) 

 at such or such a place." The principal destination of the Viharas, 

 second only to their being intended as asylums for the religious, was to 

 receive travelling ascetics and foreigners. There undoubtedly is a great 

 distance between this almost pastoral state of Buddhism and the flour- 

 ishing condition, in which Fahian found it in the fourth century A. C. in 

 the rich Viharas and hermitages ; but between both periods nearly nine 

 centuries are intervening. However great the difference may be between 

 these two conditions of Buddhism, it is evident, that the second must 

 have soon resulted from the first. Indeed, the ascetics having obtained 

 fixed abodes, their mutual connection must have become closer, and 

 owing to this circumstance, their body have become better organized 

 and therefore more compact than that of the Brahminical ascetics. With 

 this material fact there was combined the necessity of resisting the at- 

 tacks of their adversaries. This made them sensible of the expediency 

 of forming an association, which afterwards might be easily changed into 

 a monastic institution. The religious assembly once established, a hier- 

 archy must have soon formed itself to maintain order. Thus we see in 

 all legends the Bhikchus taking rank according to their age and merit. 

 In the assembly rank depended upon age, and the principal ascetics 

 had the name of Sthavira (in Pali Thera) elders, who occupied in the as- 

 sembly the first rank after Sakya. The Sthaviras were again divided 

 into elders and elders of the elders. Merit also distinguished the ranks, 

 and the author even thinks, that an incontestable superiority was only 

 assigned to him, who combined merit with the privilege of seniority. 



Aryas, venerable, were called those, who had comprehended the four 

 sublime truths, the fundamental axioms of the Buddhist doctrine, viz. 

 1, there exists pain ; 2, all that is born in this world, suffers pain ; 3, it is 

 necessary to liberate ourselves from it ; and 4, knowledge alone offers the 

 means of this deliverance. The title of Arya was one of the highest 

 obtainable ; beside the knowledge of those truths, it required the possession 



