162 



BUDDHISM. 



many believed his word, for he succeeded in disposing of the 

 lives of 60 Bhikkhus before Bhagawa returned from a season 

 of meditation in the wilderness. On his arrival, Buddha in a 

 long discourse descanted on the moral benefits to be derived 

 from slow and systematic breathing, and at its close severely 

 reprimanded Migalandaka for his wholesale murders, and de- 

 clared, that if any Bhikkhu wittingly take away the life of a 

 man, or take a weapon in his hand for that purpose, he becomes 

 guilty of a Parajika, Afterwards some Bhikkhus who had become 

 attached to the wife of a sick devotee, assured him that death 

 was far preferable to life, as by its means he would enter on a 

 state far superior to any he could possibly anticipate here. He 

 listened to their advice, refused food and medicine, and died. 

 His widow however spread an ill-report of the Bhikkhus, and 

 Bhagawa declared, that if any Bhikkhu henceforth persuade a 

 man to die, he shall be guilty of a Parajika fault and excommu- 

 nicate. 



A vast number of instances are then given of Bhikkhus 

 taking away life, yet so as to evade previous prohibitions, and 

 in many cases they were successful. Thus, a Bhikkhu ordered 

 a Bhikkhu, saying, take away the life of such an one. " This is 

 a Dukkata fault. He, mistaking his victim, murders another 

 man. The originator is not guilty, but to the perpetrator there 

 is a Parajika. 



Again, A commands B to tell C to tell D to tell E to 

 take away the life of F. This is a Dukkata fault. E consents ; 

 this is a Dukkata. E kills F; the originator is not guilty; 

 but to D and E there is a Parajika. 



These two instances, extracted from a large number, are 

 quite sufficient to enable us to estimate the standard of morals 

 which Bhagawa established for the Bhikkhus, and which they 

 very frequently sought to evade. 



