Hinduism and Buddhism, An Historical Sketch Volume I Part 32

[Footnote 344: Maj. Nik. 53.]

[Footnote 345: Cullavag. VI. 4.]

[Footnote 346: Probably sheds consisting of a roof set on posts, but without walls.]

[Footnote 347: Translated by Rhys Davids, _American Lectures_, pp. 108 ff.]

[Footnote 348: _E.g._ Maj. Nik. 62.]

[Footnote 349: But in Maj. Nik. II. 5 he says he is not bound by rules as to eating.]

[Footnote 350: Maj. Nik. 147.]

[Footnote 351: In an exceedingly curious pa.s.sage (Dig. Nik. IV.) the Brahman Sonada??a, while accepting the Buddha's teaching, asks to be excused from showing the Buddha such extreme marks of respect as rising from his seat or dismounting from his chariot, on the ground that his reputation would suffer. He proposes and apparently is allowed to subst.i.tute less demonstrative salutations.]

[Footnote 352: Cullavagga V. 21 and Maj. Nik. 85.]

[Footnote 353: Visakha, a lady of noted piety. It was probably a raised garden planted with trees.]

[Footnote 354: Maj. Nik. 110.]

[Footnote 355: Dig. Nik. No. 2. Compare Jataka 150, which shows how much variation was permitted in the words ascribed to the Buddha.]

[Footnote 356: Sam. Nik. XLII. 7.]

[Footnote 357: Mahaparinib-sutta, 6. 20. The monk Subhadda, in whose mouth these words are put, was apparently not the person of the same name who was the last convert made by the Buddha when dying.]

[Footnote 358: His personal name was Upatissa.]

[Footnote 359: This position was also held, previously no doubt, by Sagata.]

[Footnote 360: Mahavag. X. 2. Compare the singular anecdote in VI. 22 where the Buddha quite unjustifiably suspects a Doctor of making an indelicate joke. The story seems to admit that the Buddha might be wrong and also that he was sometimes treated with want of respect.]

[Footnote 361: VII. 2 ff.]

[Footnote 362: The introductions to Jatakas 26 and 150 say that Ajatasattu built a great monastery for him at Gayasisa.]

[Footnote 363: The Buddha says so himself (Dig. Nik. II.) but does not mention the method.]

[Footnote 364: The Dhamma-sanga?i defines courtesy as being of two kinds: hospitality and considerateness in matters of doctrine.]

[Footnote 365: Maj. Nik. 75.]

[Footnote 366: Mahav. vi. 31. 11.]

[Footnote 367: Cullavag. x. 1. 3.]

[Footnote 368: Mahaparinib. V. 23. Perhaps the Buddha was supposed to be giving ananda last warnings about his besetting weakness.]

[Footnote 369: Udana 1. 8.]

[Footnote 370: Compare too the language of Angela of Foligno (1248-1309) "By G.o.d's will there died my mother who was a great hindrance unto me in following the way of G.o.d: my husband died likewise and all my children.

And because I had commenced to follow the aforesaid way and had prayed G.o.d that he would rid me of them, I had great consolation of their deaths, although I did also feel some grief." Beatae Angelae de Fulginio Visionum et Instructionum Liber. Cap. ix.]

[Footnote 371: No account of this event has yet been found in the earliest texts but it is no doubt historical. The versions found in the Jataka and Commentaries trace it back to a quarrel about a marriage, but the story is not very clear or consistent and the real motive was probably that indicated above.]

[Footnote 372: See Rhys Davids, _Dialogues_, II. p. 70 and Przyluski's articles (in _J.A_. 1918 ff.) Le Parinirvana et les funerailles du Bouddha where the Pali texts are compared with the Mulasarvastivadin Vinaya and with other accounts.]

[Footnote 373: This was probably written after Pa?aliputra had become a great city but we do not know when its rise commenced.]

[Footnote 374: She was a noted character in Vesali. In Mahavag. viii. 1, people are represented as saying that it was through her the place was so flouris.h.i.+ng and that it would be a good thing if there were some one like her in Rajagaha.]

[Footnote 375: The whole pa.s.sage is interesting as displaying even in the Pali Canon the germs of the idea that the Buddha is an eternal spirit only partially manifested in the limits of human life. In the Mahaparinib.-sutta Gotama is only voluntarily subject to natural death.]

[Footnote 376: The phrase occurs again in the Sutta-Nipata. Its meaning is not clear to me.]

[Footnote 377: The text seems to represent him as crossing first a streamlet and then the river.]

[Footnote 378: It is not said how much time elapsed between the meal at Cunda's and the arrival at Kusinara but since it was his last meal, he probably arrived the same afternoon.]

[Footnote 379: Cf. Lyall's poem, on a Rajput Chief of the Old School, who when nearing his end has to leave his pleasure garden in order that he may die in the ancestral castle.]

[Footnote 380: Dig. Nik. 17 and Jataka 95.]

[Footnote 381: It is said that this discipline was efficacious and that Channa became an Arhat.]

[Footnote 382: It is difficult to find a translation of these words which is both accurate and natural in the mouth of a dying man. The Pali text _vayadhamma sa?khara_ (transitory-by-nature are the Sa?kharas) is brief and simple but any correct and adequate rendering sounds metaphysical and is dramatically inappropriate. Perhaps the rendering "All compound things must decompose" expresses the Buddha's meaning best. But the verbal ant.i.thesis between compound and decomposing is not in the original and though sa?khara is etymologically the equivalent of confection or synthesis it hardly means what we call a compound thing as opposed to a simple thing.]

[Footnote 383: The Buddha before his death had explained that the corpse of a Buddha should be treated like the corpse of a universal monarch. It should be wrapped in layers of new cloth and laid in an iron vessel of oil. Then it should be burnt and a Dagoba should be erected at four cross roads.]

[Footnote 384: The Mallas had two capitals, Kusinara and Pava, corresponding to two subdivisions of the tribe.]

[Footnote 385: Theragatha 557 ff. Water to refresh tired and dusty feet is commonly offered to anyone who comes from a distance.]

[Footnote 386: Mahavag. VIII. 26.]

[Footnote 387: _E.g._ Therigatha 133 ff. It should also be remembered that orientals, particularly Chinese and j.a.panese, find Christ's behaviour to his mother as related in the gospels very strange.]

[Footnote 388: _E.g._ Roja, the Malta, in Mahavag. VI. 36 and the account of the interview with the Five Monks in the Nidanakatha (Rhys Davids, _Budd. Birth Stories_, p. 112).]

[Footnote 389: _E.g._ Maj. Nik. 36.]

[Footnote 390: Dig. Nik. XVII. and V.]

[Footnote 391: Maj. Nik. 57.]

[Footnote 392: Mahaparib. Sutta, I. 61.]

[Footnote 393: The earliest sources for these legends are the Mahavastu, the Sanskrit Vinayas (preserved in Chinese translations), the Lalita Vistara, the Introduction to the Jataka and the Buddha-carita. For Burmese, Sinhalese, Tibetan and Chinese lives of the Buddha, see the works of Bigandet, Hardy, Rockhill and Schiefner, Wieger and Beal. See also Foucher, _Liste indienne des actes du Buddha_ and Hackin, _Scenes de la Vie du Buddha d'apres des peintures tibetaines_.]