Had Sakya-muni known that duty was the law of God, and that the nirvana for which he yearned was going home to God, he might have saved millions of men from idolatry; but such knowledge was utterly beyond his reach. We may believe that his unconditional surrender of himself to duty gave him a clear perception of right and wrong: he never thought of reward for himself, and abandoned every lighter wish for that which he believed to be right, and, as we believe, he trusted implicitly that this would lead to eternal union with the Eternal Essence of the Universe: but this was not what he taught. True to the conceit and self-sufficiency of his age and country, he believed that he had wrested a secret from the Eternal: his clear and fresh perception of right and wrong he looked upon as a spell, which he could communicate to others, and thus enable his followers to attain the advantages he had gained, without enduring the painful, tedious, self-denying probation which he had endured. CHAPTER VII. "Meanwhile the winged heralds, by command And trumpet's sound, throughout the host proclaim A solemn council forthwith to be held."-MILTON. THE progress of Buddhism after Sakya-muni's death has been agreeably recorded in the Ceylon Chronicles, translated by Mr. Turnour; and from these we gather that Kasyapa claimed to be Leader of the Assembly, because Buddha had said to him, " Kasyapa, thou shalt wear my hempen robes."* And it was soon apparent to the new chief, or hierarch, that decided measures were required for ... holding the community together; an old dotard was working insubordination, saying, "Weep not, bewail not; we are happily rid of that ascetic, . . . who kept us in subjection, saying, this is permissible and that is not permissible ; now whatever we may desire that we can do.”* And Kasyapa, fearing that the teachings of the divine teacher might become extinct, determined to convene a general assembly for the purpose of preserving the words of Buddha. He wished to have five hundred members, and he wished particularly to have Ananda amongst them, because he had been more constantly with Buddha than any other disciple; but it so happened that Ananda had not yet attained that state of conversion called by Buddhists Arhathood; whereas the four hundred and ninty-nine other members were Arhats. Nevertheless Ananda was elected. It was next determined that the five hundred should meet at Rajagriha for the rainy season, and that no other Bhikshus, that is, no other Buddhist mendicants, should be admitted to the city during that period. These arrangements being made, Kasyapa said to them, "Beloved! ye have leisure now for forty days, after which time no excuses will be admitted, neither in reference to father or mother, or getting a refection-dish or robe made; . . . do therefore what requires to be done."+ The disciples then dispersed all over India, and at the commencement of the rains the five hundred met at Rajagriha. Their first anxiety was to get the Viharas repaired, which had been neglected and untenanted for more than a twelvemonth. With this object, a deputation placed itself * Turnour, J. A. S. B., vol. vi. p. 512; 2 Kings, ii. 13. at the palace-gate, petitioned the King, and obtained a promise of artificers. When the Viharas were finished, they again sought the King, and begged for his aid in appropriating a cave in the neighbourhood as a Hall of Assembly. The King was again propitious, and a suitable hall was prepared and " adorned, as if by Viswakarma, the divine artificer himself." And now when all was ready, and the assembly on the eve of being convened, Ananda was in great distress at being still" deficient in sanctification. He spent the whole night in peripatetic meditation, and reflected that Buddha had told him that by perseverance he would be shortly sanctified. Since then, he thought, a declaration of Buddha admits no qualification, my own exertion must be over-anxious." Endeavouring therefore to feel more trust he sought repose, and "whilst in the act of reclining . . . his mind extricated itself from the dominion of sin," and he attained Arhathood; and "with a countenance full of sanctity, purity, brilliancy, and splendour," he attended the meeting with the other Bhikhus.* At this meeting, whilst Kasyapa presided, Upali rehearsed the discourses relating to discipline; and Ananda those which referred to morals and general conduct. Different portions of these discourses were consigned to the disciples of different eminent Elders as their especial charge; a certain number, for instance, " to the disciples of the deceased Shariputra," and others to the pupils of Anuraddha. This is recorded as the first Buddhist convocation held at Rajagriha, at the close of the rainy season, in the autumn of the year B.C. 543. After this period the principal Rajas for several centuries * J. A. S. B., vol. vi. p. 518. were unfavourable to the new religion, and it made but little progress in wealth or power. Morals were apparently more than usually corrupt in India; for not only Ajatasatru but three succeeding kings of Magadha obtained the throne by murdering their fathers, and then at length the populace cried out and said they would have no more of the "parricidal race ;" and deposing the reigning Raja, they installed the eminently wise minister named Susanaga, who reigned eighteen years. Susanaga had the reputation of being the child of the unmarried lady who held office at Vesali, where the Vriji determined "that it would be prejudicial to the prosperity of their capital if they did not keep up the office of 'Chief of Courtesans.'" Susanaga was a most accomplished person, and was succeeded by his son Kalasoka, or Kâkavarnin,† who removed his capital from Rajagriha to Patna, called Pushpapura (city of flowers), and first called Pâtali-pura and later Pâtaliputra. This is the town in which Ajatasatru was building forts a century previous, when Buddha passed through it shortly before his death, and at that time it was a mere village. During the reign of Kalasoka, or Kâkavarnin, insubordination was observed in a Vihara at Vesali, into which illdisposed people had insinuated themselves for the sake of a subsistence. "These shameless ministers of religion," says the Ceylon Chronicle, " pronounced the following ten indulgences allowable :"§ * Mahawanso, iv. 16. + Kakavarna means "black as a raven," and was the name or epithet usually applied to Kalasoka by Brahmanical historians.-Lassen, vol. ii. p. 83. Wilson, quoted by Lassen, vol. ii. p. 82, note. § 'Mahawanso,' translated from the Pali by Mr. Turnour. The 'Mahawanso' is a history of Ceylon, written by a Buddhist resident at a Vihara in Ceylon, about A.D. 400. |