BUDDHISM, 



153 



Chief Shepherd of the Buddhist Church — the master of his ser- 

 vants the Bhikkhus (priests) and the Father of his clerical 

 family. He claims here the power not only to legislate but 

 also to execute, and was the judge to give sentence when any 

 one of his laws had been violated. The remarkable feature in 

 these laws however is, Gotamo never legislated for the Bhik- 

 khus until some one of them had committed an act in direct 

 opposition to the general tenour of the religion. 



The name of the first book in this division is the Para- 

 jika Book, from the root " ji" to conquer; with two prefixes, 

 " para" and a a," the former meaning other, foreign, 8fc, and 

 the other a particle of negation. Consequently, the meaning 

 of the whole is overcome or defeated* There are four Para- 

 jikas or defeats mentioned in the book called Methuna Dham- 

 ma Parajika, Adinna Dana Parajika, Manussa Wiggaha Para- 

 jika, and Uttari Manussa Dhamma Parajika, and the meaning 

 of each of the several terms is: — The cohabiting Parajika; 

 the taking of things not given Parajika; the man-tormenting 

 Parajika; and the assumption of superhuman powers Parajika; 

 or, more briefly, cohabitation, theft, murder, and the unwar- 

 ranted assumption of superhuman powers and faculties. 



The nature of a Parajika fault is thus defined by Buddha ; 



Seyyathapi nama sisachchinno abhabbo tena sariran. 

 bandhanena jiwitun Ewamewa Bhikkhu methunan Dhamman 

 patisewitwa assamano hoti asakya puttiyo tena wuchchati para- 

 jika hoti. 



ee As one who has been decapitated is unable to live by 

 tying the head to that body, so a Bhikkhu who has been 

 guilty of the Methuna Dhamma fault becomes excommunicate 



