Sagas from the Far East Part 39

[9] In the far east of India and in Ceylon, where it is not indigenous, we have historical evidence that it was introduced by the Buddhists; also in Java. La.s.sen, Indische Alterthumskunde, i. 257; also p. 260, note 1, where he gives the following comparative descriptions of the two species, though he also points out that in ancient descriptions the characteristics of the two trees are often confused. The ficus indica or banian (it received the name of banyan from the Indian merchants, Banjans, by whose means it was propagated), is called in Bengal Njagrodha and Vata (the Dutch call it "the devil's tree"). The ficus religiosa is called ashvattha, and pippala. They plant the one by the side of the other with marriage ceremonies in the belief that otherwise the banian would not complete its peculiar mode of growth. Hence arises a most pleasing contrast between the elegant lightness of the s.h.i.+ning foliage of the ficus religiosa and the solemn grandeur of the ficus indica with its picturesque trunks, its abundant leaf.a.ge, its spangling of golden fruits, its pendulous roots, enabling it to reproduce itself after the fas.h.i.+on of a temple with countless aisles. It affords cool salubrious shade, a single one forming in time a forest to itself, and sufficing to house thousands of persons. The leaves of both supply excellent food for elephants, and birds and monkeys delight in its fruit, which, however, is not edible by man, nor is its wood of much use as timber. The pippala does not grow to nearly so great a size as the other, never attaining so many stems, but nothing can be more graceful than its appearance when, overgrowing from a building or another tree; its leaves tremble like those of the aspen (La.s.sen, i. 255-261, and notes). Under its overarching shade altars were erected and sacrifice offered up. To injure it wilfully was counted a sin (an instance is mentioned in Bp. Heber's "Journey,"

i. 621). A most prodigious Boddhi-tree, or rather five such growing together, still exists in Ceylon, which tradition says was transplanted thither with most extraordinary pomp and ceremonies at the time of the introduction of Buddhism into the island. They grow upon the fourth terrace of an edifice built up of successive rows of terraces, forming the most sacred spot in the whole island. Upon the above supposition this Boddhi-grove would be something like 2000 years old. Several very curious legends concerning it are given in a paper called "Remarks on the Ancient City of Anaraj.a.pura," by Captain Chapman, in Trans. of R. As. of Gr. Br. i. and iii. The Brahmans honoured it as well as the Buddhists, and made it a parable of the universe, its stem typifying the connexion of the visible world with a divine invisible spirit, and the up and-down growth of the branches and roots the restless striving of all creatures after an unattainable perfection; but it was the Buddhists for whom it became in the first instance actually sacred by reason of the conviction said to have been received by Shakjamuni while observing its growth (reminding forcibly of the tradition about Sir I. Newton and the apple), that the perpetual struggles of this changeful life could only find ultimate satisfaction in that reunion with the source whence they emanated, which he termed Nirvana.

[10] Burnouf, i. 295.

[11] Burnouf, p. 194.

[12] Nirvana means literally in Sanskrit "the breathing out,"

"extinction"--extinction of the flame of life, eternal happiness, united with the Deity. Bohtlingk and Roth's Sanskrit Dictionary, iv. 208. In Buddhist writings, however, it is difficult to make out any idea of it distinct from annihilation. Consult Schmidt's Trans. of sSanang sSetzen, pp. 307-331; Schott. Buddhaismus, p. 10 and 127; Koppen, i. 304-309. "Existence in the eye of Buddhism is nothing but misery.... Nothing remained to be devised as deliverance from this evil but the destruction of existence. This is what Buddhists call Nirwana." (Alwis' Lectures on Buddhism, p. 29.)

[13] Concerning the locality of the Malla people, see La.s.sen, Indische Alterthumskunde, i. 549.

[14] This word is a favourite with Buddhist writers, and means literally "him of the rolling wheel," primarily used to denote a conqueror riding on his chariot. See La.s.sen, Indische Alterthumskunde, i. 810, n. 2.

[15] La.s.sen, ii. 52, n. 1, and 74, n. 6; and i. 356, n. 1.

[16] Professor Wilson seems to have been so much perplexed by these divergencies of chronology, that in a paper by him, published in Journ. of R. As. Soc. vol. xvi. art. 13, he endeavours to show on this (and also on other grounds) that it is possible no such person ever existed at all!

[17] See Burnouf, p. 348, n. 3; see also infra, n. 3 to "The False Friend;" also note 2 to "Vikramaditja's Birth."

[18] Supra, Notice of Vikramaditja, pp. 238, 239.

[19] "Only about a hundred years elapsed between the visit of Fa-Hian to India and that of Soung-yun, and in the interval the absurd traditions respecting Sakya-Muni's life and actions would appear to have been infinitely multiplied, enlarged, and distorted." (Lieut.-Col. Sykes' Notes on the Religious, Moral, and Political State of Ancient India, in Journ. of R. As. Soc. No. xii. p. 280.)

[20] Turnour, in Journ. of As. Soc. of Bengal, 722.

[21] La.s.sen, ii. 440.

[22] La.s.sen, ii. 453, 454.

[23] Burnouf, Introd. a l'Hist. du Buddh. i. 137.

[24] Burnouf, Introd. &c. i. 131 et seq.

[25] "There is no reference even in the earlier Veda to the Trimurti: to Donga, Kali, or Rama." (Wilson, Rig-Veda Sanhita.)

[26] Burnouf, i. 90, 108.

[27] La.s.sen, ii. 426, 454, 455 and other places.

[28] "No hostile feeling against the Brahmans finds utterance in the Buddhist Canon." (Max Muller, Anc. Sanskr. Literature.)

[29] La.s.sen, iv. 644, 710.

[30] La.s.sen, ii. 440.

[31] La.s.sen, iv. 646-709.

[32] As. Rec. i. 285.

[33] Genesis iii. 15.

[34] Rig-Veda, bk. x. ch. xi.

[35] Burnouf, Introd. i. 618.

[36] See infra, Note 8 of this "Dedication;" on the word "Bede,"

p. 346.

[37] Verita della Religione Cristiana-Cattolica sistematicamente dimostrata, da Monsignor Francesco Nardi U. di S. Rota. Roma, 1868.

[38] La.s.sen, ii. 1107.

[39] La.s.sen, i. 488.

[40] A great number of early authorities are quoted in Butler's "Lives," vol. xii., pp. 329-334. The subject has also been handled by Gieseler, Lehrbuch der Kirchengeschichte; Wilson's "Sketch of the Religious Sects of the Hindus;" Swainson's "Memoir of the Syrian Christians;" most ably by A. Weber, and by many others.

[41] In note 2 of p. 182, vol. iv., La.s.sen quotes several authors on the meaning of the word and its ident.i.ty with the triratna, as Wilson calls the Buddhist Trinity of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. See also infra, n. 1, Tale XVII.

[42] At the same time it presents also, of course, many frightful divergencies, and of these it may suffice to mention that the number of wives ascribed to Crishna is not less than 16,000. La.s.sen, vol. i. Appendix p. xxix.

[43] Indische Studien, i. 400-421, and ii. 168.

[44] The very earliest, however, do not go very far back; he was never heard of at all till within 200 B.C., and seems then to have been set up by certain Brahmans to attract popular wors.h.i.+p, and to counteract the at that period rapidly-spreading influence of the Buddhists. See La.s.sen, i. 831--839. See also note 1, p. 335, supra.

[45] La.s.sen, iv. 575.

[46] La.s.sen, p. 576.

[47] "On trouvera plus tard que l'extension considerable qu'a prise le culte du Krishna n'a ete qu'une reaction populaire contre celui du Buddha; reaction qui a ete dirigee, ou pleinement acceptee par les Brahmanes." Burnouf, Introd. i. p. 136, n. 1.

[48] La.s.sen, iv. 815-817.

[49] La.s.sen, iv. 576.

[50] The best account of his life and teaching is given by S. Wa.s.siljew, of St. Petersburg, "Der Buddhismus; aus dem Russischen ubersetzt," to which I have not had access.

[51] See supra, p. 332.

[52] See infra, Note 1, Tale XI.

[53] See supra, p. 330.

[54] Concerning Serpent-wors.h.i.+p see infra, Note 1, Tale II.

[55] Travelling Buddhist teacher. La.s.sen.

[56] Burnouf, Introduction a l'Histoire du Buddhisme, ii. 359.

[57] "Southward in Bede." See Note 8.