2500 years

of Buddhism

QeneraC 'Editor:
Trof. T.y. 'Bapat

JorwardecC 'Ey
S. 'RacCfiakrisfinan
 2500 YEARS
OF BUDDHISM

General Editor :
PROF. P. V. BAPAT

FOREWORD BY
S. RADHAKRISHNAN

TO*

T H E P U B L IC A T IO N S D IV IS IO N
n is try o f I n f o r m a tio n an d B ro a d c a s tin g
GOV E R N ME N T OF I ND I A
 M ay 24, 1956

PUBLISHED BY THE DIRECTOR, PUBLICATIONS DIVISION

DELHI-8, AND PRINTED AT THE GOVERNMENT OI INDIA
PRESS AND THE PHOTO-LTTHO PRESS, NEW DELHI
 FOREWORD

Sixth century B.C. was remarkable for the spiritual

unrest and intellectual ferment in many countries. In China
we had Lao Tzu and Confucius, in Greece Parmenides and
Empedocles, in Iran Zarathustra, in India Mahavira and the
Buddha. In that period many remarkable teachers worked
upon their inheritance and developed new points of
view.
The Purnima or full-moon day of the month of Vaisakha
is connected with three important events in the life of the
Buddha—birth, enlightenment and parinirvana. It is the
most sacred day in the Buddhist calendar. According to the
Theravada Buddhism, the Buddha’s parinirvana occurred in
544 B.C.1 Though the different schools of Buddhism have
their independent systems of chronology, they have agreed
to consider the full-moon day of May 1956 to be the 2,500th
anniversary of the mahaparinirvana of Gautama the Buddha.
This book gives a short account of the story of Buddhism in
the last 2,500 years.
The main events of the Buddha’s life are well known. He
was the son of a minor ruler of Kapilavastu, grew up in
luxury, married Yasodhara, had a son, Rahula, and led a
sheltered life where the world’s miseries were hidden. On
four occasions when he went out of his palace, so the legend
tells us, he met an old man and felt that he was subject to
the frailties of age, met a sick man and felt that he was
liable to sickness, met a corpse and felt that he was also
subject to death, and met an ascetic with a peaceful
countenance who had adopted the traditional way of the
seekers of religious truth. The Buddha resolved to gain
1. The Bodh Qaya inscription gives 544 B.C. as the date of parinirvana.
freedom from old age, sickness and death by following his
example. The mendicant tells the Buddha:

nara-puhgava janma-mrtyu bhitah sramanah

pravrajitosmi moLsa-hetoh1
I am a sramana. an ascetic, who in fear of birth
and death have left home life to gain liberation.

The sight of the holy man, healthy in body, cheerful in

mind, without any of the comforts of life, impressed the
Buddha strongly with the conviction that the pursuit of
religion was the only goal worthy of man. It makes man
independent of the temporary trials and fleeting pleasures of
the world. The Buddha decided to renounce the world and
devote himself to a religious life. He left his home, wife and
child, put on the garb and habits of a mendicant, and fled
into the forest in order to meditate on human suffering, its
causes and the means by which it could be overcome. He
spent six years in the study of the most abstruse doctrines of
religion, suffered the severest austerities, reduced himself to
the verge of starvation in the hope that, by mortifying the
flesh, he should surely attain to the knowledge of truth. But
he came very near death without having attained the wisdom
that he sought. He gave up ascetic practices, resumed nor­
mal life, refreshed himself in the waters of. the river
Nairaiijana, accepted the milk pudding offered by Sujata:
ndyam atma balahinem labhyah. After he gained bodily
health and mental vigour he spent seven weeks under the
shade of the Bodhi tree, sitting in a state of the deepest and
most profound meditation. One night towards the dawn his
understanding opened and he attained enlightenment After
the enlightenment the Buddha refers to himself in the third
person as the Tathagata: he who has arrived at the truth.
He wished to preach the knowledge he gained and so said:
“ I shall go to Banaras where I will light the lamp that will
1. Aavaghosa: Buddha cnrita, V, 17.
bring light into the world. I will go to Banaras and beat
the drums that will awaken mankind. 1 shall go to Banaras
and there I shall teach the Law.” “Give ear, O mendicants!
The Deathless (amrta, eternal life) has been found by me. 1
will now instruct. I will preach the Dharma.” He travelled
from place to place, touched the lives of hundreds, high and
low, princes and peasants. They all came under the spell
of his great personality. He taught for forty-five years the
beauty of charity and the joy of renunciation, the need for
simplicity and equality.
At the age of eighty he was on his way to Kusinagara,
the town in which he passed into parinirvana. Taking leave
of the pleasant city of Vaisali with his favourite disciple,
Ananda, he rested on one of the neighbouring hills and look­
ing at the pleasant scenery with its many shrines and sanc­
tuaries. he said to Ananda, citram jambudvipam, manoramam
jlvitam manusvunam. “Colourful and rich is India, lovable
and charming is the life of men.” On the banks of the river
Hiranyavati in a grove of sala trees, the Buddha had a bed
prepared for himself between two trees. He gently consoled
his disciple, Ananda, who was lamenting bitterly. “Do not
weep, do not despair, Ananda. From all that he loves man
must part. How could it be that what is born, what is subject
to instability, should not pass. May be, you were thinking,
‘we have no longer a master’. That must not be, O Ananda.
The doctrine I have preached to you is your master.” He
repeated:

handa dani bhikkhave amantayami v o :

vayadhamma sankhdrd, appamUdena sampadetha ’ti

Verily, I say unto you now, O monks: All things

are perishable; work out your deliverance with
earnestness.

These were his last words. His spirit sank into the
depths of mystic absorption and when he had attained to
that degree where all thought, all conception disappears,
when the consciousness of individuality ceases, he entered
into the supreme nirvana.

II

In the life of the Buddha, there are two sides, individual

and social. The familiar Buddha-image is of a meditating
sage, yogin, absorbed and withdrawn, lost in the joy of his
inner meditation. This is the tradition associated with the
Theravada Buddhism and Asoka’s missions. For these the
Buddha is a man, not God, a teacher and not a saviour.
There is the other side of the Buddha’s life, when he is con­
cerned with the sorrows of men, eager to enter their lives,
heal their troubles and spread his message for the good of
the many: bahu-jana-hitaya. Based on this compassion for
humanity, a second tradition matured in North India under
the Kusanas (70—480 A.D.) and the Guptas (320—650 A.D.).
It developed the ideal of salvation for all, the discipline
ot devotion and the way of universal service. While the
former tradition prevails in Ceylon, Burma and Thailand, the
latter is found in Nepal, Tibet, Korea, China, and Japan.
All forms of Buddhism, however, agree that the Buddha
was the founder, that he strove and attained transcendental
wisdom as he sat under the Bodhi tree, that he pointed a way
from the world of suffering to a beyond, the undying, and
those who follow the path for liberation may also cross to
the wisdom beyond. This is the root of the matter, the
essential unity underlying the many differences in outlook and
expression that came to characterize Buddhism as it spread
from India to other parts of the world.
The essence of all religion is a change in man’s nature.
The conception of second birth, dvitiyam janma, is. the central
teaching of the Hindu and the Buddhist religions. Man is
not one but a multiplicity. He is asleep, he is an automaton.
He is inwardly discordant. He must wake up, become united,
harmonious within himself and free. The Greek mysteries
implied this change in our nature. Man himself is conceived
as a grain which could die as a grain but be reborn as a plant
different from the grain. A bushel of wheat has two possible
destinies, to be pounded and made into flour and become
bread; or to be sown in the ground, to germinate and become
a plant, and give a hundred grains for one that is sown.
St. Paul borrowed this idea in describing the Resurrection
when he says: “Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not
quickened except it die.” “ It is sown a natural body, it is
raised a spiritual body.” The change is a transformation of
the substance itself. Man is not a complete final being. He
is a being who can transform himself, who can be born again.
To effect this change, to be reborn, to be awakened, is the
goal of all religions as of Buddhism.
Our subjection to time, to samsara, is due to avidyd,
unawareness, leading to infatuation, depravity, dsava. Ignor­
ance and craving are the substratum of the empirical life.
From avidya we must rise to vidya, bodhi, enlightenment.
When we have vipassand, knowledge by seeing, clear percep­
tion. we will acquire samatd, unshakable calm. In all this,
the Buddha adopts the Vedic criterion of certainty which is
rooted in actual knowledge which is attained by immediate
experience, direct intellectual intuition of reality: vathd-
bhiita-ndna-dassana.

Ill

The Buddha did not feel that he was announcing a new

religion. He was born, grew up, and died a Hindu. He was
restating with a new emphasis the ancient ideals of the Indo-
Aryan civilization. “Even so have I, monks, seen an ancient
■way, an ancient road followed by the wholly awakened ones
of olden times . . . Along that have I gone, and the matters
that I have come to know fully as I was going along it, I
have told to the monks, nuns, men and women lay-followers.
even, monks, this Brahma-faring, brahmacariya that is pros­
perous and flourishing, widespread and widely known, become
popular—in short, well made manifest for gods and men.”
The quest of religious India has been for the incomparable
safety, fearlessness, abhaya. moksa, nirvana. It is natural
for man to strive to elevate himself above earthly things, to
go out from the world of sense to free his soul from the
trammels of existence and gross materiality, to break through
the outer darkness into the world of light and spirit. The
Buddha aims at a new spiritual existence attained through
jnana or bodhi, absolute illumination. “ But I deem the
highest goal of a man to be the stage in which there is neither
old age. nor fear, nor disease, nor birth, nor death, nor
anxieties, and in which there is no continuous renewal of
activity.”

pade tu yasminn na jara na bhlr na run na janma

naivoparamo na cadhayah
tam eva manye purusiirtham uttamam na vidyate
yatra punah punah kriya2

The Buddha aimed at a spiritual experience in which all

selfish craving is extinct and with it every fear and passion.
It is a state of perfect inward peace, accompanied by the con­
viction of having attained spiritual freedom, a state which
words cannot describe. Only he who has experienced it
knows what it is. The state is not life in paradise where
the gods dwell. “You should feel shame and indignation,
if ascetics of other schools ask you if it is in order to arise
in a divine world that ascetic life is practised under the
ascetic Gautama.” Even as the Upanisads distinguish
moksa from life in brahmaloka, the Buddha points out that
the gods belong to the world of manifestation and cannot
therefore be called absolutely unconditioned. Existence has
as its correlative non-existence. The really unconditioned is
beyond both existence and non-existence. The state of the
mukta, the Buddha, is higher than that of the Brahma. It is
1. 8am yutta-nikffya.
2. Asvrtghosa: B uddhacarita, X I, 30.
invisible, resplendent and eternal. There is a higher than
the gods, a transcendental. Absolute described in the Udana
as ajdta, unborn, abhuta, unbecome, akata, unmade,
asankhata, uncompounded. This is the Brahman of the
Upanisads which is characterized as na iti, na iti.1 The
Buddha calls himself brahma-bhuta, he who has become
Brahman. The Buddha adopted an absolutist view of
Ultimate Reality though not a theistic one. He felt that
many abstained from action in the faith that God would
do everything for them. They seemed to forget that spiritual
realization is a growth from within. When the educated
indulged in vain speculations about the Inexpressible, the
uneducated treated God as a being who could be manipulat­
ed by magic rites or sorcery. If God forgives us any way it
makes little difference how we live. The Buddha revolted
against the ignorance and superstition, the dread and the
horror, which accompanied popular religion. Besides,
theistic views generally fill men’s minds with dogmatism
and their hearts with intolerance. Doctrinal orthodoxy has
filled the world with unhappiness, injustice, strife, crime,
and hatred.
The conception of the world as samsara, a stream without
end, where the law of karma functions, is common to all
Indian systems, Hindu, Jain, Buddhist and Sikh. Nothing
is permanent, not even the gods. Even death is not perma­
nent for it must turn to new life. The conduct of the
individual in one life cannot determine his everlasting destiny.
The Buddha does not accept a fatalistic view. He does not
say that man has no control over his future. He can work
out his future, become an Arhat, attain nirvana. The
Buddha was an ardent exponent of the strenuous life. Our
aim is to conquer time, overcome samsara and the way to
it is the moral path which results in illumination.
The Buddha did not concede the reality of an unchange-
1. Cf, also “ from which the words tu rn back together w ith the m ind>
not having attained". T attiriy a Upanisad, II , 4. In the T attiriy a B rahm anas
it is said : "B efore the gods sprang into existence, I was” , I I , 8,8.
 able self for the self is something that can be built up by
good thoughts and deeds, but yet he has to assume it. While
karma relates to the world of objects, of existence, in time,
nirvana assumes the freedom of the subject, of inwardness.
We can stand out of our existential limits. We experience
the nothingness, the void of the world to get beyond it. To
stand out of objective existence there must come upon the
individual a sense of crucifixion, a sense of agonizing annihi­
lation, a sense of the bitter nothingness of all the empirical
existence which is subject to the law of change, of death:
marandntam hi jivitam. We cry from the depths of unyield­
ing despair: mrtyor ma amrtam gamaya. Who shall save me
from the body of this death? If death is not all, if nothing­
ness is not all, there is something which survives death, though
it cannot be described. The ‘I ’ is the unconditioned, some­
thing which has nothing to do with the body, feeling, percep­
tion, formations, thought, which are all impermanent,
changeable, non-substantial. When the individual knows that
what is impermanent is painful, he becomes detached from
them and becomes free. The indispensable prerequisite of this
is a higher consciousness of an ‘1’ or something like it:
attena va attaniyena.’ This ‘I’ is the primordial essential
self, the unconditioned, whose realization gives us liberty
and power. The self is not body, feeling, consciousness, etc.
But from this it does not follow that there is no self at all.
The ego is not the only content of the self though it is the
only content that can be known objectively. There is another
side to our self which helps us to attain nirvana. When the
Buddha asks us to be diligent, to strive for salvation, he is
referring to 'th e inward principle which is not swept away
by the current of events, which is not controlled by outward
circumstances, which protects itself from the usurpations of
society, which does not submit to human opinion but jealously
guards its rights. The enlightened is free, having broken all
bonds. The ascetic is one who has gained mastery over
himself, “who has his heart in his power, and is not himself
1. Majjhima-nikaya, X X IX .
in the power of his heart”.1 The Buddha when he attained
nirvana is far from being dissolved into non-being. It is
not he that becomes extinct but the passions and desires.
He is no longer conditioned by the erroneous notions and
selfish desires that normally go on shaping individuals. The
Buddha realizes himself to be free from the characteristics
that constitute an individual subject. He has vanished from
the sphere of dualities. “Whatever thought he desires,
that thought will he think, whatever thought he does not
desire, that thought will he not think.”2 The Buddha taught
us to pursue prajna and practise compassion, karuna. We
will be judged not by the creeds we profess or the labels we
wear or the slogans we shout but by our sacrificial work and
brotherly outlook. Man, weak as he is, subject to old age.
sickness and death, in his ignorance and pride condemns the
sick, the aged and the dead. If any one looks with disgust
on any fellow being who is sick or old or dead, he would
be unjust to himself. We must not find fault with the man
who limps or stumbles along the road for we do not know
the shoes he wears or the burdens he bears.3 If we learn
what pain is. we become the brothers of all who suffer.

IV
Buddhism did not start as a new and independent
religion. It was an offshoot of the more ancient faith of
the Hindus, perhaps a schism or a heresy. While the Buddha
agreed with the faith he inherited on the fundamentals of
metaphysics and ethics, he protested against certain prac­
tices which were in vogue at the time. He refused to
acquiesce in the Vedic ceremonialism. When he was asked
to perform some of these rites, he said, “And as for your

1. M«jjhima-nik3y«, XXX11.
2. A nguttara IV , 85; Majjhimu, X X.
3. Cf. rudrakfam tulasi-kiuthnm, Iripundrmn bhaenia-dhat<inuii>
yHtrah anonani komat 'cajaptfh m d^-'uinnnnnm
na titpunantim a n u ja m ynthiTbhGta-ltite-ratih
saying that for the sake of Dharma I should carry out the
sacrificial ceremonies which are customary in my family and
which bring the desired fruit, I do not approve of sacrifices;
for I do not care for happiness which is sought at the price
of others’ suffering.”1
It is true that the Upanisads also subordinate the
sacrificial piety to the spiritual religion which they formulate,
but they did not attack it in the way in which the Buddha
did. The Buddha's main object was to bring about a refor­
mation in religious practices and a return to the basic
principles. All those who adhere to the essential framework
of the Hindu religion and attempt to bring it into conformity
with the voice of awakened conscience are treated as avataras.
It is an accepted view of the Hindus that the Supreme as
Visnu assumed different forms to accomplish different pur­
poses for the good of mankind. The Buddha was accepted
as an avatara who reclaimed Hindus from sanguinary
rites and erroneous practices and purified their religion of
the numerous abuses which had crept into it. This avatara
doctrine helps us to retain the faith of the ancestors while
effecting reforms in it. Our Puranas describe the Buddha
as the ninth avatara of Visnu.
In Jayadeva’s astapadi <of the Gitagovinda) he refers to
the different avataras and mentions the Buddha as an avatara
of Visnu, and gives the following account:

O you of merciful heart denounced the Veda

where the slaughter of cattle is taught. O Kesava,
you, in the form of the Buddha, victory to you. Hari,
lord of the world.
nindasi yajnavidher ahaha srutijdtam
sadaya-hrdaya, darsita pa&ughatam
kesava-dhrta buddhasarira jaya jagadfsa hare1
1. B uddhacarita, X I, 64.
yadattha capislaphaldm kulocitam hum$va dharmaya rnakhalcriyam iti
namo makhebhyo na hi kamaye sukham parasya duhkha-kriyayfiyad
Uyat*
2. 1,9.
The commentator writes:

yajnasya-vidhdna-bodhakam veda samuham

nindasi, na tu sarvam ity arthah

The Buddha does not condemn the whole Sruti

but only that part of it which enjoins sacrifices.

Jayadeva sums up the ten avataras in the next verse:

Who upheld the Vedas, supported the universe,

bore up the world, destroyed the demons, deceived
Bali, broke the force of the Ksatriyas,
conquered Ravana. made the plough, spread mercy.
prevailed over aliens, homage, O Krsna
who took the ten forms.

veddn uddharate, jagan nivahate, bhiigolam

udbibhrate,
daitydn darayate, balim chalayate, ksatraksayam
kurvate,
paulastyam jayate, halam kalayate, kdrunyam
dtanvate,
mlecchdn murcchayate dasakrtikrte krsndya
tubhyam namah
kdrunyam krpam dtanvate buddha-rupena
vistarayate

The Buddha utilized the Hindu inheritance to correct

some of its expressions. He came to fulfil, not to destroy.
For us, in this country, the Buddha is an outstanding repre­
sentative of our religious tradition. He left his footprints on
the soil of India and his mark on the soul of the country
with its habits and convictions. While the teaching of the
Buddha assumed distinctive forms in the other countries of
the world in conformity with their own traditions, here, in
the home of the Buddha, it has entered into and become an
 integral part of our culture. The Brahmanas and the
§ramanas were treated alike by the Buddha and the two
traditions gradually blended. In a sense the Buddha is a
maker of modern Hinduism.
Occasionally humanity after an infinite number of
gropings. creates itself, realizes the purposes of its existence
in one great character and then again loses itself in the all
too slow process of dissolution. The Buddha aimed at the
development of a new type of free man, free from prejudices,
intent on working out his own future, with one’s self as
one’s light, attadipa. His humanism crossed racial and
national barriers. Yet the chaotic condition of world affairs
reflects the chaos in men's souls. History has become uni­
versal in spirit. Its subject matter is neither Europe nor
Asia, neither East nor West, but humanity in all lands and
ages. In spite of political divisions, the world is one. whether
we like it or not. The fortunes of everyone are linked up
with those of others. But we are suffering from an exhaus­
tion of spirit, an increase of egoism, individual and collective,
which seem to make the ideal of a world society too difficult
to desire. What we need today is a spiritual view of the
universe for which this country, in spite of all its blunders and
follies, has stood, which may blow through life again, bursting
the doors and flinging open the shutters of man's life. We
must recover the lost ideal of spiritual freedom: dtmaldbhdn
na param vidyate. If we wish to achieve peace we must
maintain that inner harmony, that poise of the soul, which
are the essential elements of peace. We must possess our­
selves though all else be lost. The free spirit sets no bounds
to its love, recognizes in all human beings a spark of the
divine, and offers itself up a willing victim to the causc of
mankind. It casts off all fear except that of wrong doing,
passes the bounds of time and death and finds inexhaustible
power in life eternal.

S. RADHAKR1SHNAN
 CONTENTS

F orew ord . Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan v -x v i

Our Contributors Kviii-xxiv

I . I n d ia a n d B u d d h is m P. V. Bapat 1-8
II. Origin of Buddhism P. L. Vaidya 9-20#
111. Life and Teachings C. V. Joshi 21-34
IV. Four Buddhist Councils B. Jinananda 35-55
The First Council 35
The Second Council . 41
The Third Council 44
The Fourth Council . 47
Appendix I 50
Appendix 11 51
Appendix 111 53
V. Asoka and the Expansion of Buddhism . 56-96
I. Asoka . . . . P. V. Bapat 56
11. Expansion of Buddhism :
A. in India . P. C. Bagchi 60
B. In Northern Countries :
Central Asia and China P. C. Bagchi 65
Korea and Japan J. N. Takasaki 68
Tibet, Ladakh and Mongolia
V. V. Gokhale 73
Nepal V. V. Gokhale 82
C. In Southern Countries
R. C. Majumdar 85
Ceylon • 85
Burma • • • 86
The Malay Peninsula • • • 89
Siam (Thailand) * 89
Kambuja (Cambodia) • 91
Campa (Viet-Nam) . • 93
Indonesia • . • 93
VI. P r i n c ip a l S c h o o l s a n d S e c t s o f B u d d h is m . 97-138

A. In India Anukul Chandra Banerjee 97

The Sthaviravadins or the Theravadins 101
The Mahisasakas . . . . 104
The Sarvastivadins . . . . 105
The Haimavatas . . . . . 107
The Vatsiputriyas . . . . 107
The Dharmaguptikas . . . . 108
The K asyaplyas....................................... 108
The Sautrantikas or the Sankrantivadins 109
The Mahasanghikas . . . . 109
The Bahusrutiyas . . . . 116
The Caityakas . . . . . 117
The Madhyamika School 120
The Yogacara School . . . . 122

B. In Northern Countries :
Tibet and Nepal . V. V. Gokhale 124
China . . . G. H. Sasaki 124
The Ch’an (Dhyana) School 125
The Vinaya School 126
The Tantra School 127
The Vijnanavada School 127
The Sukhavativyuha School 127
The Avatamsaka School . 128
The Madhyamika School 129
The T’ien-t’ai School 130
Japan . . . . J. N. Takasaki 131
The Tendai Sect . . . . 131
The Shingon Sect . . . . 132
Pure Land Buddhism 132
Zen Buddhism . . . . 134
The Nichiren Sect . . . . 135
 CONTENTS xix

PAGE

C. In Southern Countries . P. V. Bapat 136

Ceylon . . . . . . 136
Burma . . . . . . 137
Thailand and Cambodia 138
B u d d h is t L i t e r a t u r e .................................................. 139-175
General . . . P. V. Bapat 139
Survey of Important Books in Pali and Bud­
dhist Sanskrit . . Nalinaksha Dutt 142
I. Biographies ................................................. 143
(i) The Mahavastu . . . . 145
(ii) The Nidanakatha . . . . 149
11. The Buddha’s Teachings :
(i) The Pali Sutta-pitaka 152
(ii) The Dhammapada . . . . 156
(iii) The Sanskrit Saddharma-pundarTka . 159
111. The Buddha’s Disciplinary Code :
Vinaya-pitaka : 162
(i) The Patimokkha-sutta 164
(ii) The Sutta-vibhanga 165
(iii) The Bhikkhuni-vibhahga . 168
(iv) The Khandhakas . . . . 170
B u d d h is t E d u c a t io n . . . S. Dutt 176-194
The Beginnings :
The Training of a Monk . . . . 178
Monasteries as Seats of Learning :
The Intellectual Bias . . . . 181
Maintenance and Endowment 183
Chinese Pilgrims and their Testimony . 184
Monastic Universities :
Nalanda and Valabhi . . . . 185
V ik r a m a s i l a ................................................ 190
Jagaddala and Odantapuri 192
Conclusion 192
 PAGE

IX . S o m e G r e a t B u d d h is t s a f t e r A so k a 195-254
A. In India :
Rulers : Menander, Kaniska, Harsa
Bharat Singh Upadhyaya 195
Pali Authors : Nagasena, Buddhadatta.
Buddhaghosa, and Dhammapala
Anand Kausalyayana 206
Sanskrit Authors: Asvaghosa, Nagarjuna.
Buddhapalita and Bhavaviveka, Asanga
and Vasubandhu, Dinnaga, and Dhar-
makirti Bharat Singh Upadhyaya 219
B. In__ Tibet : _ /- _
Acarya Dipankara Srijnana
Rahul Sankrilyayan 226
C. In China P. V. Bapat 239
Kumarajiva . 239
Paramartha 242
Bodhidharma 244
Yuan Chwang 246
Bodhiruci 249
D. In Japan J. N. Takasaki 250
Kukai . 251
Shinran 251
Dogen . 252
Nichiren 252
Appendix :
List 1 . 253
List 2 . 254
X. C h in e s e T r a v e l l e r s K .A Nilakanta Sastri 255-276
Fa-hien . 255
Yuan. Chwang . 262
I-tsing 274
XI. A B r ie f S u r v e y o f B u d d h is t A r t 277-307
A. In India T. N. Ramachandran 277
B. In Other Asian Countries
C. Sivaramamurti
 XII. P l a c e s o f B u d d h is t I n t e r e s t . 308-339
A. In Northern India S. K. Saraswati 308
B. In Western India . D. B . Diskalkar 326
C. In Southern India . D. B. Diskalkar 336
XIII. .
L a t e r M o d if ic a t io n s o f B u d d h is m 340-381
Approach to Hinduism N. Aiyaswami Sastri 340
Principles of Tantric Buddhism
Anagarika Govinda 358
Mantrayana and Sahajayana H. V. Guenther 376
XIV. B u d d h is t S t u d ie s in R f c f n t T imf.s 382-446
Some Eminent Buddhist Scholars :
In India and Europe Padmanahh S. Jaini 382
In China . . . P. V. Bapat 397
In Japan . J. N. Takasaki 399
Progress of Buddhist Studies :
In Europe and America . IL N. Ghoshal 401
In the East :
1. India . . . P. V. Bapat 414
2. Ceylon . 426
3. Burma 431
4. Thailand „ 433
5. Cambodia „ 434
6. Laos „ 435
1. V i e t - N a m ............................. 437
8. China „ 439
9. Japan . /. N. Takasaki 441
XV. B u d d h is m in t h e M o d e r n W o r l d : 4 4 7 -4 7 8
Cultural and Political Implications
B. Sanghar
Revival of Buddhism : The Maha Bodhi
Society . . . . / ) . Valisinha A ll
XVI. In R e t r o s p e c t P. V. Bapat 479-^82
G l o s s a r y .......................................................... 483-484
B i b l i o g r a p h y ................................................ 485-488
I n d e x ................................................................... 489-503
Charts, Maps and Illustrations
P. V. B a p a t , M.A., A.M., Ph.D. (Harvard), Retired Professor
of Ancient History, Pali and Buddhism, Poona University
and Fergusson College, Poona.
P. L. V a id y a , M.A. (Calcutta), D.Litt. (Paris), Director, Mithila
Research Institute, Darbhanga.
C. V. J o s h i , M.A., Retired Professor of Pali, Baroda University.
B h ik s h u J in a n a n d a , M.A., Ph.D. (London), Vidya-Abhidhamma-
Sutta Visarada, Professor of Pali and Buddhalogy, Nalanda
Post-Graduate Pali Institute, Nalanda.
(The late) P. C. B a g c h i , M.A., D.Litt. (Paris), Vice-Chancellor
Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan.
V. V. G o k h a l e , B.A., Ph.D. (Bonn), Chairman, Board of
Studies in Modern European Languages, Poona University,
Fergusson College, Poona.
J. N. T a k a s a k i , Japanese scholar, at present working at the
Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Poona.
R. C. M a ju m d a r , M .A ., Ph.D., historian, now Professor of
Ancient Indian History, Nagpur University.
A n u k u l C h a n d r a B a n e r je e , M.A., LL.B., Ph.D., Lecturer in
Pali and Sanskrit, Calcutta University.
G. H. S a s a k i , Japanese scholar, at present working at the Bhan­
darkar Oriental Research institute, Poona.
N a l in a k s h a D u t t , M.A., Ph.D., D.Litt. (London). B.L., M.P.,
Head of the Department of Pali, Calcutta University.
S. D u t t , M.A., B.L., Ph.D. (Calcutta), formerly Reader in
English, Delhi University.
B h a r a t S in g h U p a d h y a y a , M.A., Head of the Hindi Depart­
ment, Jain College, Beraut (Meerut), U .P .
B h a d a n t a A n a n d K a u s a l y a y a n a , well-known Hindi writer.
R ahul S a n k r it y a y a n , M ahapandit, Tripitakacharya, leading
Hindi writer.
K. A. N il a k a n t a S a s t r i , M.A., Professor of lndology, Mysore
University, Mysore.
T. N. R a m a c h a n d r a n , M.A, Jt. Director-General of Archaeology,
Government of India, New Delhi.
C. S iv a r a m a m u r t i , M.A., Keeper, National Museum, Rashtra-
pati Bhavan, New Delhi.
S. K. S a r a s w a t i , M.A. (Calcutta), Professor of Fine Arts,
Calcutta University.
D . B. D is k a l k a r , M.A., at present working at the Bhandarkar
Oriental Research Institute, Poona.
P a n d it N. A iy a s w a m y S a s t r i , Professor of Buddhist Studies,
Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan.
L am a A n a g a r ik a G o v in d a , German by birth ; eminent writer
on Buddhism.
H. V. G u e n t h e r , M.A., Ph.D., Austrian by birth ; Lecturer in
Russian, Lucknow University, Lucknow.
P a d m a n a b h S. J a in i , M .A ., Tripitakacharya, Professor of Pali,
Banaras Hindu University, Banaras.
U. N. G h o s h a l , M.A., Ph.D. (Calcutta), Retired Professor o f
History, Presidency College, Calcutta.
B h ik s h u S a n g h a r a k s h it a , British by birth; noted Buddhist
writer, Founder-President of the Kalimpong Branch of
the M aha Bodhi Society.
D. V a l is in h a , B.A., General Secretary, Maha Bodhi Society
of India, Calcutta.
 CHAPTER I

India and Buddhism

People from other countries are often intrigued by the

phenomenon that, originating in India, Buddhism should,
except for a few remnants in Bengal, Assam or Orissa, have
given place to Hinduism, which is now the dominant religion
of the country. This is particularly strange in view of the
fact that Buddhism, as a humanist force, profoundly affected
religious and moral ideas in its time, and acted as a powerful
catalytic factor in transforming existing social conditions.
Buddhism is a religion of kindness, humanity and
equality. While the religion of the Vedas allowed animal
sacrifice to propitiate the gods, Buddhism set its face against
such sacrifices; on the contrary, it waged a merciless cam­
paign against this practice. The complicated nature of the
sacrificial ritual required the services of brahmanas, who had
specialized in that lore. The Brahmana therefore came
to hold a unique position in the social structure of the Indo-
Aryans. Even the Ksatriya and the VaiSya, who as
dvijas (twice-born) enjoyed certain privileges in common with
the brahmana, could not take as prominent a part as the
brahmana in the performance of the sacrifice. The Sudra
on the other hand was assigned menial tasks such as chop­
ping wood and cutting grass for the sacrifices, and dragging
to the sacrificial ground dumb animals, like cows, bullocks
and rams, with tears trickling down their faces as described
in the Buddhist texts such as the Kutadanta-sutta of the
Dlgha-nikaya.
The ftamanas who lived a life of retirement in the forests
and gave themselves up to philosophical speculation did not
sympathize with sacrifices involving the slaughter of animals.
Public opinion was thus being gradually formed against such
sacrifices and clear indications of this change in public
opinion can be found in the Mahabharata and the Bhagavata
Purana. Santiparva1 refers to two sides of the controversy,
in which the hermits pleaded for sacrificial offerings of corn
or grain, while the gods favoured offerings of living animals.
In chapter 254 of the same parvan, there is a dialogue bet­
ween Tuladhara and Jajali where animal sacrifice is con­
demned and the practice of eating meat at such sacrifices is
attributed to interested rogues. In another placc in the
same parvan (257,6), it is claimed that ahimsa is the highest
principle. The Bhagavata Punana (1,8,52) says that the kill­
ing of animals is not to be condoned because it forms part
of a sacrifice. Indeed, the brahmanas had subsequently to
modify their position and substitute tor live animals images
made of corn-flour (pista-pasu). Clearly, Buddhism scored a
victory in this matter.
In this connection, it may legitimately be asked how the
Buddha preached the principle of ahimsa and kindness to
living animals, if he himself could eat meat and allow his
followers to do so. The explanation is simple. In a society
where meat was commonly used in daily food, he and
his followers had to depend upon public alms; so that if they
had refused to eat meat, they would probably have starved
to death. As a practical man, the Buddha had to avoid
extremes. Here also he followed the Middle Path. He only
imposed three restrictions, namely, if any monk either saw
or heard or even suspected that an animal had been killed
specially for him, then he was not to accept the meat.
Another special feature was that Buddhism denounced
all claims to superiority on the ground of birth as the
brahmanas claimed. It denounced all social distinctions
between man and man, and declared that it was karma, the
actions of man, that determined the eminence or lowness of
an individual. In Buddhist literature, there are a number
1. Bhandarkar Oriental Research In stitu te ed., 324, 10.
 of sOtras where the Buddha (or his disciple) is represented
as holding a discussion with renowned brahmanas and ulti­
mately bringing them round to his own. way of thinking.
Assalayana-sutta1 and VajrasucT. for instance, illustrate the
Buddhist pofnt of view. In this campaign also. Buddhism
achieved success. The position of the Buddhists in this res­
pect is appreciated and accepted in the Mahabharata2 and
Bhagavata3. The insistence on the equality of social status
based on one s actions and not on birth is an integral part
of the literature of mediaeval saints like Ramananda,
Caitanya, Kabir, Ekanath and others (14th—17th century
A.D.). The followers of the Buddha did not all belong to the
higher classes, but also included the lower classes, such as
barbers, sweepers or candalas. Among the mediaeval saints,
too, Tukaram was a sudra, Rohidas a cobbler, and Sena a
barber. Similarly, some sects like the Lingiiyats, the
Mahanubhavas and Ramanandis observe no class distinction.
Another feature of great sociological significance in
Buddhism was the fact that it threw open the doors of
organized religious life to women and men alike. It is said
that the Buddha was at first unwilling to admit women into
the religious organization of the Sahgha. However, when
Ananda approached him on behalf of MahapajSpati
GautamT. he finally agreed, though not without misgivings
about the ultimate result of such a step. At the same time, he
laid down certain conditions which seem to imply the sub­
servience of women to men. Nevertheless, it must be remem­
bered that he should not be judged by the standards of the
20th century. In his day, this was a great step forward,
and in religious life women enjoyed the same right of access
to the highest position, that of Arhatship, for instance, as it
was recognized that women could also be as learned and wise
as men. In this connection, the names of distinguished nuns
like Khema, Patacara and Dharr.madinna may be mentioned.
1. Majjhima, No. 03.
2. Udyoga-pnrva, 43, 27*29.
3. See 7,11,35 and 9,2,23.
Outside the Sangha, women like Sujata, ViSakha and Sama-
vatf all achieved positions of eminence in different spheres.1
Even courtesans like Amrapall were not denied opportunities
to embrace the religious life. In the 1 heii-gatha also women
like Uppalavanna, Subha. Kisa. Gautami and Soma are re­
ferred to as having renounced the world out of unhappiness
with life in general. They accepted a life of devotion in
order to overcome mundane suffering and it is said that they
made the best use of the opportunities religion offered.
The institution of a band of disciplined, selfless workers
was at the very foundation of the Buddhist organization. The
Buddha’s injunction to these workers was always to go from
place to place, preaching his teachings throughout the year
except during the rainy season. He asked them to have com­
passion on the people and to work for their happiness. One
of his important instructions was, as he said, “Let not two
of you go in one and the same direction” (Ma ekena dve
agamittha). Herein lies the secret of success of the Buddhist
missionary activity. This practice naturally inspired the
Buddhist missionaries to create new spheres of activity for
each group.
It is worth noting that the popularity of the Buddha and
his religion largely depended upon his method of approach
to the masses. The Buddha had asked his disciples to preach
his doctrine in the people’s own speech isakaya niruttiya).
The people were naturally impressed. This appeal in a
local dialect struck a sympathetic chord in the hearts of the
people, and they listened to the message of the Buddha, par*
ticularly as it came to them through a band of selfless
preachers who had travelled long distances.
Though Gautama Buddha belonged to an aristocratic
family, his life and work were those of a democrat. He
served the interests of the masses and was concerned with
their happiness. He travelled widely for forty-five years,
preaching to them. To carry out his life’s mission, he
founded the Sangha, the Order of the Buddhist fraternity of
1. A&gutfcara, Etadagga~vagga.
monks and nuns. No wonder that the constitution and work­
ing of this organization was on democratic lines. Every­
one who was ordained as a Buddhist monk could be a member
of the Sangha in a particular locality and all official business
in a formal meeting of the Sangha was transacted according
to democratic principles. Every member had a vote
and the decision of the Sangha was taken by a vote of the
majority. When a complicated question came up before the
Sangha, it was referred to a select committee, whose recom­
mendation had to be placed before the Sangha for ratifica­
tion. If a member of the Sangha was absent on account
of illness, his vote was recorded by bringing him, sometimes
carrying him, to the meeting place to cast his vote. All
members of the Sangha in a parish were required to be present
at a formal meeting of the Sangha. Questions about fixing
the days of the Uposatha (day of fast), or the beginning of
the Vassavasa (retreat in the rainy season) were settled by
the majority, and the minority had to submit to its decision,
unless, of course, it was a question of fundamental principles
necessitating the convenirg of a synod or religious council.
The leader of the Sangha was generally elected from among
the theras or senior monks and he was respected by all. As
Buddhist monks had no private or personal property of their
own, all furniture or things in the monastery for the use of
the monks, such as cots or water jars, belonged to the whole
community or the Sangha. No one dared to question the
authority of the Sangha which had come to be respected as
one of the Three Jewels (ratnani). The Sangha. however,
was not a close body of people belonging to a particular
place, but was open to monks from all the four directions
(catuddisa-sangha). In short, no official act of the Sangha was
valid unless it was decided at a meeting where all members
and visiting monks in a parish were either present or could
communicate their wishes (chanda).
When it came to voting, marked sticks (salakas) were used
and a responsible officer was appointed to keep watch over
the voting. As monastic establishments developed, the
 Sangha began to appoint office-bearers to supervise new con­
structions, to look after property, the distribution of clothing,
the allotment of dwelling places, the acceptance of property
as a gift to the Sangha, and the like. All these officers were
appointed after due election at a meeting of the Sangha.
where the proposal was announced three times, and if there
was no dissenting voice it was declared carried.
During his lifetime, the Buddha allowed things to be
decided democratically by the Sangha; and after his death, too,
he did not want to restrict the freedom of the Sangha by
appointing his own successor. He wanted the Dhamma
and Vinaya to be its guides after his death and anything
which was not authorized by the Dhamma and Vinaya was
to be rejected by the Sangha.
In running its affairs, the Sangha no doubt drew its ins­
piration from small oligarchies (ganarajya) like those of
the Vajjis or Licchavis of Vaisali’ and of the Mallus of Pava
or Kusinar’a .’ At one time the Siikyas also enjoyed a simi­
lar form of government, but they seem to have lost it long
before. The Buddha showed great admiration for the Vajjis
or Licchavis when, in the Mahaparinibbana-sutta, he likened
the Licchavis to the thirty-three gods (Tavatimsa). He
also warned Ajatasatru’s Minister. Vassakara, saying that
the Vajjis would remain invincible as long as they adhered
to the seven rules governing their conduct (satta aparihaniya
dhamma), namely, <i) daily meetings for consultation; (ii)
unity in action; (iii) adherence to old injunctions; (iv) respect
for elders; (v) respect for women who were never to be
molested; (vi) reverence for places of worship within or with­
out their territory; and (vii) protection to worthy saints
(Arhats) in their territory.
The liberal attitude shown by the Buddhists in throwing
the doors wide open to all who wished to participate in
religious life seems to have found general acceptance as the
1, Pron. Vaiaftli.
2, M. i, 231 (Satta, No. 33): Imesam Sanghanam gapatiam aet/yathXdam
Vajjinam, Malldnatn, etc.
 Gita indicates.1 The worship of the images of deities
became a common feature of both Buddhist and non-
Buddhist religious practice. There was nothing in the
practical life of a follower of the Buddha to which a non-
Buddhist could take exception.
Thus, many aspects of the Buddhist religion came to be
accepted by others and gradually no distinction remained.
In the course of time. Buddhism was absorbed by the
reformed religion of Hinduism.
This, however, is not all. The Mahayana form of
Buddhism, perhaps under the influence of non-Aryan or
aboriginal popular cults in the lower strata of society, came
to assume a darker and debased form of Tantrism. This
might have resulted from a misunderstanding of the symbolic
language of the esoteric texts of the Tantric school. Magic
and sorcery and secret rites and rituals introduced into later
Buddhism, particularly in respect of the female deities, no
doubt, alienated the people. It was therefore not surprising
that people were antagonized by some of the corrupt
practices of the Tantrics. This unhealthy development, too,
must have contributed considerably to the decline of Bud­
dhism. This form of Buddhism was in the ascendant and
was studied at the Buddhist universities of Nalanda and
VikramasTla until the end of the 12th century A.D. when the
invasion of Bakhtyar Khilji swept everything, Hindu and
Buddhist, before it.
The beginning of the 13th century brought evil days both
for Buddhism and Hinduism. For the former, however, the
blow proved to be more severe. The monasteries of Bihar
were despoiled and many of the monks fled to Nepal and
Tibet. The lay Buddhists were left without any religious
guidance, which made it easier for them to be absorbed in
the non-Buddhist community as there was little distinction
left between the lives led by the Buddhists and non-Buddhists.
Nevertheless, a few isolated groups of Buddhists remained in
Orissa, Bengal, Assam and parts of South India. An ins-
l. Slrii/o vaiiyda ta th i iudr&s te p i tjantiparam g a tim ,B hag. Gita, 9,13.
cription1 recently discovered in Korea tells us of an Indian
monk called Dhyanabhadra who visited KancTpura where
he listened to a discourse on an Avatamsaka-sutra in the
14th century A.D. There followed a long interregnum in
the history of Buddhism until in the latter half of the 19th
century the attention of European scholars was drawn to
the study of the Buddha and his religion.
The reader will find in the following pages the story of
Buddhism not only in India (II—IV) but in other countries of
the East—its expansion (V), its ramifications into diiferent
schools and sects (VI), its literature, particularly the literature
bearing on the life of the Buddha, his teachings and his
disciplinary code (VII). Chapters have also been devoted
to the discussion of Buddhist ideas on education (VIII), some
great men among the Buddhists, both rulers and writers (IX),
the prevailing state of Buddhism as revealed by the records
of the Chinese pilgrims who came to India in the period
between the fifth and the seventh centuries A.D. (X),
Buddhist art in India and abroad (XI), places of Buddhist
interest in India (XII), and later modifications in Buddhism
which paved the way for its absorption into Hinduism (XIII).
The reader will undoubtedly be interested in the revival of
Buddhist studies, both in the East and the West, and the
eminent scholars who were responsible for it (XIV). Nor
can he forget the work of the Mahabodhi Society to the
same end. nor remain blind to the cultural and political
implications of this revival of the spirit of the Byddha and
his teachings in the cause of peace in the world. India has
taken a firm stand in the cause of world peace and this, it
must be conceded, is in no small measure due to the resolve
of her leaders to follow the spirit of the Buddha which was
reawakened in Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of the Indian
Nation.
1. See Arthur Waley, ‘New Light on Buddhism in Mediaeval India9
(Milangts chinois et bouddhiques), Vol 1 (1951*32), pp. 354*370.
 CHAPTER II

Origin o f Buddhism

C u l t o f S acrifice
The cult of sacrifice which developed out of the prayer*
in the Vedic Samhitas had a powerful hold on the minds o f
the early Aryans in India. The elaborate rituals of the cult,
and the inevitable discussions which took place during its
performance, a long affair, to keep the participants busy, are
said to be responsible for doctrines which challenged the very
existence of the cult. The discussions were undoubtedly
valuable in settling knotty points connected with the ritual,,
but some of these, at any rate, seem to have done more harm
than good. According to a passage in the Mundaka* the
eult of sacrifice, although looked upon as a ship to take one
across to the other shores of existence, to the heavenly
worlds, was itself shaky and unsafe. In another passage2
it is said that the merit accruing from its performance is of
short duration. It was thus calculated not to lead to eternal
peace, but to a life of perpetual flux.
Vedic literature is replete with references to many prob­
lems unconnected with the present life, or to problems relat­
ing to the origin of the world, its constituents, the next world,
and imaginary happiness as contrasted with the misery of the
present life. The foundations of Indian philosophy are thus
to be sought in these free discussions, particularly those on
the famous Nasadfya-sOkta, now incorporated in the tenth
and concluding book of the Rgveda.
1. Plant hy bU adfihd Yajnarupdk (Murujaka, 1,2,7).
2. Tad yaih tha karmacito lohab kflyate
evam amupnin punyocito lokafr kfiyate
 The discussions at the long sacrificial sessions were pri­
marily concerned with the performance of the ritual; but
obviously they could not be confined to this alone. If the
performance of the sacrifice could give everlasting results,
the question of thinking on different problems would not have
arisen; but when these results were efficacious only for a
short time, man’s mind naturally turned to things eternal.
The problems discussed by the early thinkers mainly con­
cerned the origin of the world or universe, and to its consti­
tuents. Life is short, and a sacrificial performance could
bring only temporary happiness, they agreed. It could not
mean eternal joy; on the contrary, it may sometimes be a
source of much unhappiness. If that was so, it was neces­
sary to discover the source of eternal peace, but could eternal
peace be achieved through the life a sacrificer leads? If not,
should not an alternative be sought? This was the next
question. The balance was in favour of a new mode of life,
the life of renunciation as opposed to the life of plenty led
by a householder. Subsequently, the system of asramas or
the four stages of life was evolved, and the last two, those
of vanaprastha and sannyasa, gave opportunities for specu­
lation on the problems of ultimate reality and absolute
happiness.
Clearly, ascetic life was open not only to the Brahmana
but also to the other cultivated classes of the age. At any rate,
it was open to the Ksatriyas, the warrior class, as is evident
from the special place the royal sage, Janaka, occupies in
the field of philosophical speculation. Ksatriya sages were
often responsible for the instruction of the Brahmanas in
some secret lore in which they were proficient.
Although Vedic literature records the names of some
thinkers belonging to the ascetic cult, there must have been
others outside this narrow group. It is not easy to ascertain
whether there were non-Aryan elements within its fold; but
there is no ground for disbelieving that the non-Aryans, too,
influenced the Aryan mind. For instance, according to some,
thinkers like Gosala represented ideas which were peculiar
to non-Aryan culture.
Turning to non-Vedic literature, one comes across terms
like Sramana as opposed to brahmana. Some five types of
sramanas including the Nigantha (Jaina) and the Ajlva
<Ajivika) are mentioned. It is likely that some of them were
brought up on Brahmanic lore, but later broke away from it.
The literature of the Buddhists and the Jainas frequently re­
fers to these sects. It is clear, however, that these sramanas
inherited several ideas from, and were often inspired by,
Vedic literature.
The tenets of these different wandering sects can be traced
back to Vedic literature, particularly the literature of the
Upanisads. In fact, the quest for the final or ultimate cause
goes back to the famous Nasadiya-sukta of the Rgveda’; the
idea of some higher and happier world is to be found in the
Visnu-sukta-; the concept of the transmigration of souls, that
of the mortals returning to this world, is as old as the Yama-
sukta' or the Hymn to the Fathers. The inherent misery of
the world and the notion of immortality, which was not
attainable by worldly possessions, have been frequently
mentioned in the Upanisads. Speculations on the ultimate
cause of the universe are frequently met with in Upanisadic
literature.
The doctrine of the Chain of Causation as conceived by
the Buddha was obviously the result of these speculations.
Indeed, even the highly developed doctrine of the Madhya­
mika school that the highest truth lies beyond the four ex­
treme views, catuskotivinirmukta, is represented in almost
identical ter ns in the last paragraph of the Mandukya Upa-
nisad.'1 It stands to reason that philosophical ideas and
doctrines do not spring up unexpectedly, but grow out of old
ideas. Oldenberg has developed this theme in his Philosophic
der Upanisaden und Anfange der Buddhismus.

1. x, 129.
2. Rgveda, I, 54.
3. Rgveda, X , 14ff.
4. Ndntafr-prajnam na bahifr-prajnam ohhycitati-prujhain, . .naprajnaiji
 There is, however, no definite indication in pre-Buddhistic
literature of the well-known and important principle of
anatmavada or the doctrine of no-soul. There are vague
references in the Upanisads, particularly the Brhadaranyaka,
that the body consists of four or five elements, that at death
it dissolves back into these elements, and that no element
of consciousness (saipjna) remains after death. This doctrine,,
however, cannot rightly be said to be the source of the Bud'
dhistic doctrine of anatma (or anatta); the most that can be
claimed is that it is at the root of the notions that all worldly
objects are transitory and that there is no transmigration.
The admission that various elements constitute a body which
ultimately dissolves into those very elements may indicate that
the so-called consciousness or saipjna is unsubstantial as.
nothing of it is left after death.
There is little information on the non-Vedic ascetic sects,
but some can be found in such works as the Suyagada, the
Second Book of the Svetambara Jaina Canon in Prakrit, and
in scattered Buddhist sutras like the Samannaphala-sutta in
the Digha-nikaya in Pali, and its Sanskrit counterpart in the
Gilgit MSS. These sects naturally glorify the teachings of
their own prophets, and condemn those of their opponents..
None the less some reliable information can be had from
these sources.
It may be useful to consider a few names of the ascetic
sects and the light they throw on their external characteristics..
In Brahmanical literature the names, Parivrajaka, also called
Maskarin, Tapasa and Mundaka occur. Parivrajaka lite­
rally means one who goes round and has no permanent domi­
cile. From a study of the rules of discipline, it appears that
these ascetics did not generally stay long at one place, except
perhaps during the rains; they were expected to wander from
place to place, and to have no fixed residence. Some of them
carried a bamboo staff, called maskara. These two features
were probably common to many sects, but they must have
been a special characteristic of a particular group of ascetics.
The name Tapasa, for instance, suggests a code of discipline
based on tapas, or self-mortification in various forms, such as
fasting, living on water and coarse food, subsisting on a par­
ticular diet, or restricting one’s movements to a particular re­
gion, preferably the northern or southern bank of sacred
rivers like the Ganga. It is interesting to note that a sect
and an Upanisadic text bear the same name, Mundaka. A
special feature of this sect was that its members shaved their
heads. The shaving of the head instead of wearing long hair
seems to have been common to both Vedic and non-Vedic
sects as appears from a reference in the Suttanipata1. There
were some sects which bore names to correspond with the
mode of their dress. Some used white garments (svetfimbara),
some coloured (geruya), while others went naked. The
material of the garment also seems to have been a distinguish­
ing feature as the term kesakambalin applied to Ajita
indicates. The members of each particular sect, no doubt,
followed the practice of their respective teachers.
An analysis of the doctrinal.or philosophical tenets of the
non-Vedic sects shows that the number of such teachers or
thinkers and their schools was very large. The Jaina sutras
mention as many as 363, while according to the Buddhist
sQtras the number is 62 or 63. The Jainas group their 363
schools broadly into four, namely, the Kriyavada2, the
Akriyavada, the Ajnanavada3 and the Vinayavada. Mahavira
being shown as the champion of Kriyavada. The principal
tenets of the Kriyavada school are that misery is the result of

1. p i idhekacce Brahma bhavanti (S u tta, No. 30).

2. To evam akkhanti mmicca logam tahdgayd aamaxid mdhand ya
SayatjUcadam nannakatfari ca dukkham dhamsu vijj&carariaTp. pamokkham
(Soya, 1,12,11.)
Att&na jo jdriai jo ya logam gain ca jo jd $ a i ndgain ca jo sasayafft
j&va aadsayan ca jd in ca marapaH ca jayovav&yaifl
Aho vi satlana viuffanan ca jo faalaip jdnax ttarfivaraH ca dukkhan ca
jo j&oai nijjaraH ca so bhdmtsm arahai kiriyavdyaift
(Sftya, 1,12,20-21.)
3. A nndniya te kusald vi sanld asanthuya no vitigiccha~tixin&
A k o tn y i dhu akoviyehi a n d ^u vittu musd vayanti
(Soya. 1,12,2.)
one’s own acts, and is not caused by anything else; that
release from samsara can be secured by knowledge of the
highest truth and by good conduct. The doctrine admits the
existence of soul or self, this world and the next, the eternal
and non-eternal elements in the constituents of the physical
world, birth, death, heavens and hells; and holds that there
are causes of misery which can be controlled. According to
Jaina sources, Ajita Kesakambalin is the champion of the
Akriyavada which roughly corresponds to the Lokayatika or
the Carvaka school. Accordine to this school, there is no
sin in killing, and there is nothing wrong in enjoying the plea­
sures of the world. The champion of Ajfianavada may be San-
jaya whom the Buddhists called Viksepavadin, or one who did
not adhere to any view categorically. No specific mention of
any teacher who believed in the doctrine of Vinayavada is
found in Jaina sources, possibly because there were too many
to be named. Buddhist sources condemn the doctrine of
Vinaya which they seem to have called Silabbataparamasa,
the doctrine of liberation through monastic vows and con­
duct. Buddhists also point to the dangers of this doctrine,
namely, that it might lead either to pleasure-seeking, or to
rigidity in religious exercises. They also refer to many un­
answerable and unanswered problems. Even if these are dis­
cussed or settled, one is no nearer the truth; on the contrary,
the danger of going astray cannot altogether be ruled out.
Sanjaya seemed to have avoided answering these questions out
of fear or ignorance, while the Jainas answered them boldly
by their doctrine of many possibilities or Anekanta.
There are frequent references in Buddhist literature to
some six senior contemporaries of the Buddha, for instance,
in the Digha-nikaya (the Samannaphala-sutta and its counter­
part in Sanskrit). It appears from the context of these refer­
ences that Ajatasatru. the king of Magadha. met a number
of these teachers and asked them each separately to state in
clear and unambiguous terms the result of their ascetic prac­
tices. All of them were well known in the country as found­
ers of religious schools with a large following. Their names
and the special doctrines they held are briefly stated in the
text. It is possible, however, that the information supplied
is prejudiced as it emanates from their opponents; in fact,
the misstatements they make are partly due to design and
partly to ignorance. All the same, it is interesting to study
their views in order to understand correctly as well as to
appreciate the views of the founder of Buddhism.
Of these six thinkers, Nigantha Nataputta, who is no
other than Mahavira, the founder, or, according to the Jaina
tradition, the last prophet of the present world cycle,
seems to have been slightly older than the Buddha. He
preached ethical doctrines without • oparently knowing that
similar ideas had been held by an incomparably senior ascetic,
Parsva. The latter is now acknowledged to be Mahavira’s
predecessor and is believed to have lived 250 years before
Mahavira. Parsva's ethical code consisted of four rules,
whereas that of Mahavira consisted of five. Of these, the
first three, viz., not to kill living things, not to take articles
of use unless they are given, and not to tell a lie, are common
to the schools of both Parsva and Mahavira. The fourth
rule in Parsva’s teaching, that of aparigraha, not to have any
worldly possessions including a wife, was split up into two
by Mahavira to make up his code of five. Not to take a
wife or to lead a celibate life, which is the fourth rule in
Mahavira’s code, and not to have worldly possessions ex­
cept clothes, which is the fifth rule in Mahavira’s code, seem
to constitute jointly the fourth rule of Parsva. The main
difference in the practical or external aspects of Parsva’s and
MahavTra’s code of conduct thus seems to have been that
while ParSva and his followers were acelakas or naked. Maha­
vira and his followers wore white garments, but refused to
have any other paraphernalia. In other words, the Jaina
faith as preached by Mahavira is the same as Parsva's, but
somewhat more modern. It was natural therefore that these
two schools should have become one as they actually did
some 250 years after the death of Parsva, when the disciples
of ParSva and those of Mahavira met at Sravasti and brought
about the Union1. Later, the Jainas explained this fusion
o f schools differently by adding twenty-two prophets to pre­
cede ParSva, thereby making ParSva the twenty-third and
Mahavira the twenty-fourth of their prophets. It would,
however, be quite correct to hold that ParSva and Mahavira
independently evolved a philosophy and £» religious system
which had identical tenets.
In the Samannaphala-sutta* Nigantha Nataputta is men­
tioned as having held the doctrine of fourfold restraint:
restraint from the use of cold water as it contains life, and
from sinful activities such as killing and sexual intercourse.3
He was free from all sins and had purified himself. In the
Udumbarika-sihanada-sutta'1 the restraints ascribed to him
are different, but identical with the four vows of Parsva.
According to Jaina sources, however. Jainism is not
a purely ethical system, but also a philosophy based on the
doctrine of many possibilities, known as Anekanta or
Syadvada. The doctrine looks at two aspects of every­
thing, the eternal and the non-eternal. The soul under­
goes migration according to good or bad deeds. As
Jainism regards the existence of jiva in everything, it enjoins
such behaviour as does not cause injury to any jiva. The
soul becomes impure and is engulfed by saipsara if it is sub­
jected to the influence of sense objects. In order to keep
the soul pure from their contamination, and to sccure its
release, it is necessary to practise restraint. To achieve this
one must resort to or acquire right knowledge, faith and con­
duct. Buddhist sources, for instance, the Anguttara, and
the seventy-fourth sutta of the TTkSnipata, ridicule the Jaina
doctrine, particularly its idea of overcoming sin, its restraint
o n movements and its insistence on certain .types of clothing.

1. Cf. Uttar&dhyay&na-tutra, 23. *

2. f 29.
3. Also cf, Siyodayam vd taha biyakdyatfi dhayakammam taha itthiyao
eydiifi jdpatp pajisevamand ag&ri&o assumapd bhavanti
(Soya,
4. Dfgha, No. 29* Para. 16.
 The next important contemporary of the Buddha was
Makkhali Gosala. He belonged to the sect of the Acelakas
or Naked Ones, and, as the first part of his name indicates,
carried a staff of bamboo (maskarin). It is said that he
was for some time a disciple of Mahavira, but later broke
away from him. Afterwards, he probably founded an inde­
pendent school known as the Ajivika school. Later writers
mention two predecessors, Nanda Vaccha and Kisa Sam-
kicca,1 thus giving this school three prophets. This sect is
now extinct, but seems to have enjoyed popularity and even
royal patronage. The doctrine advocated by Gosala is
styled sarnsara-visuddhi or the doctrine of attaining purity
only by passing through all kinds of existence. Gosala
did not believe that there was any special cause for either
the misery of human beings or for their deliverance. He
did not believe in human effort, and held that all creatures
were helpless against destiny. He maintained that all crea­
tures, whether wise or foolish, were destined to pass through
samsara. and that their misery would come to an end at the
completion of the cycle. No human effort would reduce or
lengthen this period. Like a ball of thread, samsara had a
fixed term, through which every being must pass.
The remaining four teachers, who are mentioned as con­
temporaries of the Buddha, did not leave their mark on pos­
terity as did Mahavira and, to a lesser degree, Gosala. Of
these four, Purana Kassapa" held the doctrine of Akriya or
non-action. He maintained that a man did not incur sin
through actions which were popularly known as bad, e.g.,
killing, committing theft, taking another man’s wife, or telling
a lie. Even if a man killed all the creatures on earth and
raised a heap of skulls, he incurred no sin. Similarly, he
did not earn merit through a good act, or by staying on the

1. Majjhima, Nos. 36 and 76.

2. Idhn chindita-mdrite hntajdnisu Kftssapo
pdparn na nam anupassatipunnam vd patio altavo
(Sam yuita, 2nd, 3rd vagga, I Oth sutta.)
 northern or southern bank of the Ganga; similarly, self-
control, gifts, and truthfulness did not earn for him any
credit. The doctrine that Kassapa preached resembles the
doctrine of the Carvakas in many respects.
Ajita Kesakambalin was another contemporary of the
Buddha. He did not believe in the utility of gifts, in sacri­
fice, the fruits of good and bad acts, the existence of heavenly
worlds or persons possessing higher or supernatural powers.
He held that the body consisted of four elements, into which
it dissolved after death. He also held that it was useless to
talk of the next world; that both the wise and the ignorant die
and have no further life after death.' His views are
similar to those of the Carvakas, and his doctrine may be
styled Ucchedavada.
Pakudha Kaccayana is probably Kakuda Katyayana as
mentioned in the PraSnopanisad. He and his views are also
referred to in the Suyagada, the Second Book of the Svetam-
bara Jaina Canon. His doctrine may be called Asasvatavada.
According to him. there arc seven elements which are immut­
able, and do not in any way contribute to pleasure or pain.
The body is ultimately dissolved into these seven eternal
elements.2
The last among these teachers is Sanjaya Belatthiputta.
Ajatasatru calls him the most foolish and the most ignorant
of all the teachers he had met. His doctrine is known as
Viksepavada, or a doctrine which diverts the mind from the
right track. According to the Samanfiaphala-sutta5, he
always declined to give categorical answers to problems
1. N atthi punne ya p&ve vd n'ltthi loye iomre mirlrasm vinatttnam
vitiano hoi dehino
Patteyam katdne aya je bald je ya panriiyd, m n ti piced na te santi
natthi *attovav&iy&
(Sflya. 1,1,1,11-12.)
2. Santi panca mahabbhuyd ihmegetimdhiyd, dyachaffha puno dhu &yd
loge ya mime
Duhao na vinasaanti no ya uppajjae asatp savvt vi toavvahd bhdv&
niyattlbhdvamayayd
(8«ya. 1,1,1,16*16.)
3. Para. 32.
 facing the human mind. There are ten unexplained and un­
answered questions, that have always exercised the mind of
man and have frequently been mentioned in Buddhist litera­
ture, which Sanjaya never even attempted to answer. It may
be noted that these questions were also put to the Buddha on
several occasions and he. too, declined to answer them; but
his attitude towards them was altogether different. He said
that it was useless to waste time on these idle quests as they
were not conducive to human progress.
Having taken stock of the trends of philosophical specu­
lations before the coming of the Buddha, it will now be clear
why he thought of a new faith which at once caught the
imagination of the people and was accepted by millions.
Teachers like Pakudha Kaccayana and Ajita Kesakam-
balin advocated a theory of the universe, according to which
it was either eternal or non-eternal as represented by their
respective formulae: sabham mthi and sabbam natthi, or
better still, by doctrines known as Sasvatavada and
Ucchedavada.
Gosala thought that the characteristics of all things were
predetermined, and that there was no cause or condition
which predetermined them, as represented by the formulae:
sabbam pubbekatahelu and sabbam ahetu-apaccayu.
Another view was that happiness and sorrow were due
to one’s own deeds or that they were due to some other
cause, as represented by the formulae: sukhadukkham
sayamkatam and sukhadukkham-parakatam.
Yet another belief was that the aims or values of human
life were realized by the enjoyment of worldly pleasures, or
by self-mortification, as represented by the formulae:
kamesU‘kama-sukhallikdnuyof:o and attakilamathdnuyoyo.
If the history of the philosophical thought currents at the
time were surveyed, it would be clear that both Mahavira
and the Buddha had to face thinkers who held extreme
views of the four types mentioned above, and each of them
had their own answer to them. Mahavira answered the
problems in terms of his Anckantavada or Syiidvada. while
the Buddha’s answer was based on his Paticca-samuppada1.
While Mahavira clung to the doctrine of Attakilamatha or
self-mortification, as against Kassapa, Ajita, Gosala and
Sanjaya, the Buddha preached the Majjhima-pa|ipada or the
Middle Path.
I. Svaya>p krtnm parakrtam dvdbhydm kftum ahetukam
ttirkikair ixyate dukkham Ivaya t itktatn pratltyajam
(L okatltastava, N&g&rjuna,)
 CHAPTER III

Life and Teachings

It was the seventh century before the Christian era. The

civilized part of India was divided into sixteen realms, eight
of which were kingdoms and the remaining republics.
Among the kingdoms the most powerful were Magadha and
Ko&ala. The little Sakya republic, in modern Nepal, was
ruled by the king of Kosala who received tribute from the
former. The Sakyas were of the Ksatriya solar race and
called themselves rajas. In the middle of the century, their
chief was Suddhodana who had his capital at Kapilavastu.
In the year 623 B.C. his queen, Mahamaya, was travelling
in state from Kapilavastu to Devadaha, her parents’ home, to
have her first child. On her way, the queen gave birth to
a divine son in her tent in the Lumbim grove between two
tall sal1 trees, then in their full spring blossom. A monument
at the birth-place of the Buddha, erected by Emperor Asoka
250 years after the event, still stands witness to its historical
character.
An old sage named Asita visited king Suddhodana’s
palace and expressed a desire to see the new-born child.
On seeing the marks of greatness on its delicate limbs, Asita
laughed and shed tears of sorrow. He laughed, he said,
owing to his joy that a saviour had come to the earth for
the salvation of the people and shed tears because he would
not have the good fortune to live long enough to see the
achievements of the child. The child was called Gautama
and nicknamed Siddhartha, or one whose purpose has been
fulfilled.
I. Pron. »al.
 While the Sakyas were celebrating the birlh of a prince.
Queen Mahamaya passed away seven days after the birth
of her child. Gautama was then mothered by his mother’s
sister. Mahaprajapati Gautami. who was also his stepmother.
The child preferred solitude and thoughtfulness to the frolics
and pranks natural to his age. His father observed his spirit­
ual inclinations and tried his best to protect the young
prince from worldly suffering. When he grew into a young
man he was married to Yasodhara, a beautiful girl of the
same clan. He was given three palaces to suit the three
seasons. Dancing and singing girls entertained him and he
was taken round in a chariot through the capital.
But human efforts are often balked by destiny. The ten-
der-hcarted prince saw a decrepit old man; then a withered
person affected with an ugly disease, followed by a dead body
being carried to the cremation ground by weeping friends.
Lastly, on the same day he saw an upright ascetic walking
majestically along the road. He loathed the first three
sights but took a deep interest in the ascetic. These sights
made him ponder over the miseries of existence and also on
a way of escaping from them.
The marriage of Prince Gautama and Princess Yasodhara
had lately been blessed by the birth of a son. No sooner did
Gautama receive the tidings of his son’s birth than he ex­
claimed that an obstacle (rahula) had been born to his
cherished dream of an ascetic life. It was regarded as a good
sign by the King who ordered that the. baby be named
Rahula. He did not, however, actually prove to be an
obstacle, for Gautama thought it better to relinquish his
'worldly career before attachments grew stronger and to adopt
the course of a wanderer in quest of Truth Thus did he
reason while the dancing girls tried in vain to divert him
with their art. After midnight the girls fell asleep exposing
their ugliness which had been hidden by their clothes when
they were awake. Annoyed at the sight, Gautama left
the hall and entered his wife’s chamber.
Yaiodhara was also fast asleep with the baby in her
 arms. An oil lamp cast a ‘dim religious light9, and smoke
rose from the incense burner under the bed. He tore him*
self away and, unknown to anybody, rode away towards
a forest. He discarded his royal robes, cut his long hair
with his sword and became an ascetic.
First he went to a teacher named A<Jara Kalama and then
to another named Udraka Ramaputra. He imbibed all that
they had to teach him, but as his thirst for Truth remained
unquenched he moved on and ultimately reached a pictur­
esque land, near modern Bodh Gaya1, which was surrounded
by luxuriant woods through which ran a gentle stream with
banks of silver sand.
In accordance with the belief that the mind became
elevated by emaciating the body, Gautama resorted to
different kinds of self-torture. However, a little experience
taught him that physical torture alone did not lead to an
elevation of the mind. Thereafter he began to eat and sleep,
although in moderation. At the end of si\ years of penance,
when he was thirty-six years old, he fell that in the course
of the day he would become a Buddha, an awakened one, by
attaining bodhi, or supreme knowledge. At noon he was
offered a bowl of milk pudding by Sujatu, a rich merchant s
daughter, who was devoted to him and in the evening a grass-
cutter gave him bundles of dry grass on whirh to sleep. He
regarded these as good omens and, sitting firmly under a
pipal tree on a cushion made of grass, he said. “ Let my skin,
my nerves and bones waste away, let my life-blood dry up,
I will not leave this posture until I have perfect attainment.”2
His resolute attempt set Mara, the goJ of evil, thinking
that he should not allow Gautama to escape from his thral­
dom. He caused a violent thunderstorm to frighten the
Bodhisattva that Gautama then was, but in vain! All the
missiles hurled by Mara at his victim turned into (lowers.
Mara tried to tempt him with promises of rebirths in heaven
but the Bodhisattva, or the one destined to achicvc enlighten-
1, Pron, (l*y&,
2. Mahftniddom, p. 47(1 (PTS).
 ment, would not bend. Mara was discomfited in the end
and his army fled in all directions. This battle, of course,
was a metaphorical conflict between the higher and the lower
aspirations in Gautama's mind. During the night Gautama
discovered the Law of Causation, a cycle of twelve causes and
effects conditioning the universe. This law had not been
thought of before by any philosopher. Its authorship raised
Gautama from his status of Bodhisattva to that of a Buddha.
He exclaimed solemnly:

Truly when things grow plain

To the ardent, meditating brahmana.
Routing the hosts of Mara does he stand
Like as the sun when lighting up the sky.1

He spent four weeks in contemplation under the tree,

now called the Bodhi, after which he set out on his travels.
On the way the daughters of Mara encountered him and tried
to seduce him with their charms. The Lord was unmoved
and asked them to go away. He said that such attempts
might have had success with men who had not subdued the
passions but not with him.1 Baffled in their attempts the
daughters returned to their father. Further on, the newly
awakened Buddha met two merchants, Tapussa and Bhallika,
who offered him some gruel of barley and honey. These
two came to be the first lay disciples of the Buddha, and this
was the beginning of the formation of a band of lay disciples.
The Lord then began to have misgivings in his mind.
Said he to himself:

This that through many toils I have won.

Enough, why should I make it known?
By folk with lust and hate consumed.
This truth will not be understood.3
1. Vinaya, Mahavagga, I, 1,7 (Translation by H orner).
2. Nidanakath&, Koaambi’s edition, para. 131.
3. Vinaya, Mahavagga, I, 5,3.
 But better counsel prevailed, and he felt that at least
a few clear-sighted men would surely understand the new
gospel, and renounce their misguided beliefs. His momen­
tary dejection gave way to a keen desire to impart his know­
ledge to the world. With this new determination he thought
of visiting his old teachers but both of them had died a little
while ago. Then he thought of going to Banaras1, which was
a centre of learning even in those days, to teach his philosophy
to the group of five monks who had once become his disciples
and then left him in despair. He approached the deer park
of Rsipatana (Sarnath2, near Banaras) where the five monks
lived, and addressed them on the Middle Path for the first
time, thereby setting iri motion his dharniacakra. An ascetic
should avoid the two extremes, addiction to pleasures of the
senses, as well as to self-torment, and follow the middle
course. After a long discourse the five monks were con­
verted to Gautama’s view. Thus were laid the foundations
of the Buddha's Sangha (Church).
Kasyapa of Uruvela, a fireworshipping brahmana with
matted hair, was performing a great sacrifice when the
Buddha performed a miracle. The brahmanas could not kin­
dle a fire without the Buddha’s permission. When the fire
was kindled, there was a great flood. The Buddha, how­
ever, saved the sacrincers and Kasyapa along with his follow­
ers joined the Sangha. Accompanied by them all, the
Buddha went to the hill of Gayasirsa and delivered his
famous sermon on Burning. From Gayasirsa he went on to
Rajagrha, the capital of Magadha, to redeem the promise
he had made to Bimbisara, the king, who had presented his
bamboo-grove to the Sangha for use as a monastery.
Then came the conversion of the foremost pair of the
Buddha’s brotherhood of monks. In the capital of Magadha
lived Safijaya, an ascetic, with a large number of pupils in­
cluding £ariputra and Maudgalyayana. The former heard
from the lips of ASvajit, a Buddhist monk, the following verse:
1. Pron. Ban&ra*.
2. Pron. S&m&th.
 Of those things which spring from cause '
The cause has been told by the Buddha;
And their suppression likewise
The great recluse has revealed.'

As he learnt the full meaning of this verse from ASvajit,

Sariputra became a disciple of the Buddha, and Maudgalya-
yana followed his example. The Sangha was enriched by the
addition of these intelligent brahmanas, who became the chief
disciples of the Master. Their earthly remains arc still pre­
served and worshipped in sacred places.2
A year after the Awakening, Suddhodana heard of his
son’s glory and invited him to visit Kapilavastu. The
Buddha accordingly came to his parental home. Suddho­
dana did homage to his son as he was now a holy man. On
the following day, the Buddha made a round of the city for
alms. To his wife, Ya$odharfi, he looked more glorious if)
the monk’s garb than he had done in his princely apparel.
She threw herself at his feet and said to her son. “Dear
Rahula, ask your father for your inheritance.” The Buddha
conferred on the boy a higher inheritance than worldly pelf
by making him a novice, a probationer for monkhood. Hun­
dreds of ^akya rajas doffed their finery and put on yellow
robes. Even Upali, the family barber and keeper of the
royal wardrobe, renounced his home and became a follower
of the Buddha.
Important additions continued to be made to the congre­
gation of lay disciples. Anathapin<Jika\ a rich merchant of
^ravasti, bought from Prince Jeta a large park for as many
gold pieces as would cover the whole ground. There he
erected a monastery, Jetavana Vihara, and made a gift of
it to the Sangha. Prasenajit. the king of KoSala, ViSakha, a
rich lady, and many eminent people of Ko&ila became lay
1. Vinaya, Mah&vagga, I, 10,23.
2. In November 1952- thene relic* wore reinterred in a HpeciaHy erected
stupa at Sanchi from where they had been taken and deposited in a London
museum.
3. Also called An&tliapinrlada.
disciples of the Buddha. He then went to Rajagrha where
he fell ill and was treated by the royal physician, Jlvaka
Kumarabhrtya, a children’s specialist. The patient paid for
his bodily cure by effecting the mental cure of the physician
who also joined the lay Buddhists.
Three years afterwards a quarrel arose between the
^akyas and Koliyas about the water of the river separating
their territories. Had it not been for Lord Buddha's inter­
vention, the quarrel would have grown into a fierce battle.
This event was followed by the death of Juiddhodanu and
Gautami, the widowed stepmother of the Buddha, asked her
son for admission to the Sangha. Ananda, the personal
attendant of the Master, strongly supported her cause. This
was the beginning of an Order of nuns in India. Until then
women in the country had no right to spiritual salvation
through the renunciation of the home.
Years rolled by. The Master and his disciples travelled
ail over the country combating old superstitions, the old
values based on birth, and animal sacrifice, denouncing the
spirit of revenge and praising morality, the threefold path
of purity and rational thought. The Sangha continued to
increase in strength. The Master’s arguments were persua­
sive but sometimes he performed miracles to support his
claims much to the chagrin of the brahmanas and other sec­
tarians. They tried to traduce the Buddha with the help of
a courtesan named Cifica. The poor woman suffered heavy
punishment for her guilt of incriminating the Buddha. A
similar fate awaited SundarT, who claimed that the Buddha
was in love with her.
When the Buddha was 72 years of age. King Bimbisara
of Magadha was murdered by his son Ajatasatru. The new
king was an admirer of Devadatta, a monk of the Sangha.
These two had designs on the life of the Master and set mur­
derers upon him. Instead of doing him any harm they fell
prostrate at his feet. Devadatta hurled a piece of rock at
the Master from a height but only a splinter hit him. A
last effort was made by letting loose a mad elephant on the
 Buddha, but the animal humbly bowed down before (he
Master. Frustrated in his murderous attempts, Devadatta
brought about a schism jn the brotherhood and organized a
rival Sangha. Before he could commit more mischief he
died of bleeding from the mouth.
Two years before the passing of the Master, his d an
met with a great misfortune. Vidudabha, a son of King
Prasenajit of Kosala and of the daughter of one of the
Sakya rajas, was on a visit to his mother’s family, where he
was insulted for,his low birth. Enraged, he vowed to take
revenge on the Sakyas. Undeterred by the expostulations of
the Master, he, after the death of his father, marched against
Kapilavastu and put to the sword the whole Sakya clan.
Great must have been the distress of the old Master to receive
the news of this massacre, in spite of his sermons on Peace.
Still he kept moving from place to place, delivering his ser­
mons on morality, peace, universal love and purity.
Amrapali, the famous courtesan, presented her mango-grove
to the Sangha, the last great gift during the Master’s lifetime.
When the Buddha approached his eightieth year, he felt that
his end was at hand.
He explained to Ananda many matters concerning the
Law (Dharma) and Discipline and told his pupils that he had
unfolded to them all that a good and benevolent teacher
ought and that henceforth his word should be their teacher.
The massacre of the Sakyas was followed by the death of
Sariputra and Maudgalyayana within one week. The Master
was at Pava. Cunda. a blacksmith of the town, invited him
to a meal of rice, cakes and sukaramaddava. There is no
agreement among the scholars about the meaning of the last
word. It may be either a boar’s tender flesh or some kind of
edible herb. Whatever it might have been, it was difficult to
digest and the Buddha was taken ill with dysentery. His
illness, however, did not prevent him from going on to
Kusinagara. Here he asked Ananda to spread a cloth on
the ground between two sal trees. He was born between two
sal trees and was to die in a similar place. He lay down like
 a lion and gave his last admonitions to thousands of monks
and lay folk who had assembled to have a last glimpse of
him. The following were his last words: “Now, monks, I
have nothing more to tell you but that all that is composed is
liable to decay! Strive after salvation energetically.”
His remains were cremated with royal honours. A bat­
tle for the possession of his mortal remains for daily wor­
ship was stopped by Drona, a brahmana. Eight stupas were
erected in different parts of India to house his relics. The
death Of the Buddha took place on the full moon of
Vai£akha (May) as did his birth and awakening. The day
is therefore called the thrice-sacred day.
The teaching of Lord Buddha may be divided into two
groups: (i) philosophical, and (ii) moral. The two groups
are interwoven in such a way that the one cannot be under­
stood properly without a knowledge of the other. The fun­
damental principle of the Buddha’s philosophy is the theory
of Causation or Dependent Origination. According to this
theory, the continuous existence of a being is like a wheel of
causes and effects. Ignorance gives rise to actions, then in
their turn come consciousness, phenomena (nama-rupa), the
six senses, contact, feeling, craving, grasping, becoming, birth
and sufferings. If the last effect is to be destroyed,
the primary cause, which is ignorance, must be destroyed.
Another important theory of the Buddha concerns the
Four Noble Truths, the first being that all existence is full of
suffering. The second truth is that all suffering has a cause.
The third truth is that suffering can be made to come to an
end and the last that there is a way to end suffering.
The critics of Buddhism will no doubt consider the first
two truths pessimistic but the other two certainly provide
grounds for optimism. Why does the Buddha say that the
existence of a being is full of suffering? Because all beings
are subject to rebirth, decay, disease, death, and. again, rebirth.
Even pleasures and worldly happiness lead one to sorrow
because they are transitory and the loss of pleasure and happi­
ness is worse than never to have had them.
 Just as a good doctor tries to discover the cause of the
malady before administering a remedy, the Buddha, the great
spiritual doctor, tried to find the ultimate cause of worldly
suffering, not only the suffering of human beings but that
of all animate creatures. He found the cause to be ignorance
or craving arising from it. The doctor removes the cause
of the patient's disease and thus cures it. The Buddha simi­
larly asks the people to remove their ignorancc of truth and
their craving for happiness. The cessation of suffering is
called nirvana, the summum bonum, beyond logical reasoning
and beyond description. It is not a negative condition but
a positive, unconditioned state realized by the mind.
How can this nirvana be attained? By the Fourth Noble
Truth, the Noble Eightfold Path. It is also called the Mid­
dle Path by which the wayfarer avoids the two extremes. He
neither follows the path of self-mortification nor that of self-
indulgence. During the Buddha's time ascetics often observed
fasts, led abhorrent lives, exposed themselves to fires burn­
ing around them or slept upon spikes thinking that the mind
was exalted by torturing the body. Like the Epicureans of
Europe, the self-indulgent seekers thought nothing of this
world and the next, of rebirth, karma and its fruit, and led
lives of luxury and sin. The Buddha’s Path followed neither,
but led to vision, knowledge, tranquility and nirvana. Formu­
lated by the Buddha, it is an evidence of his logical reason­
ing and practical wisdom. Each step in the process is an
inevitable advance on the path leading to the ideal.
The first step is the right view. Rid yourself of all supers­
titions, animism and primitive rites, give up your faith in
the cruel animal or human sacrifices, in the inequality of
human beings, and in the existence of a prime creator of the
universe and depend on your own powers of pure reasoning.
This step gave Buddhism its rational basis. If one’s view is
wrong, one’s determination is bound to be faulty. Right
mental resolve is the foundation of all great achievements
provided it is based on the right view. If one believes in
racial, social or communal discrimination, one’s determina­
 tion is sure to prove baneful to the world. Right speech re­
sults from right determination and action is preceded by
speech. Words free from lies, anger, abuse, calumny and
slander are the right speech which is followed by right action.
Abstinence from killing, stealing, indulgence in passions and
from drinking intoxicants is the negative aspect of right action,
while charity, truth, service, and kindness constitute the
positive one.
Right livelihood is the outcome of right action. Wrong
means of livelihood are those which cause suffering to others.
Trafficking in deadly weapons, in animals for slaughter, in
human beings for slavery and intoxicating drinks and poisons
are examples. A monk is not allowed to do any bodily ser­
vice for a layman in exchange for food or clothing. He
must earn his alms only by his goodwill towards others.
Right effort consists in strenuous endeavour by a person for
his own mental and moral elevation. He should first give
up his bad habits, acquire new good ones, keep himself free
from evil tendencies and promote the good qualities that he
may have acquired already. The Buddha lays great stress
on his step which he counted among the ten perfections
(paramitas) that a Bodhisattva must achieve before his
enlightenment. Right mindfulness is the attention paid to
the activities and weaknesses of one’s body and mind. The
last step in the middle path is right concentration, the fixing
of the mental faculties on a single jjbject. This ability is
useful not only to the spiritually inclined but is essential in
all pursuits, whether they are scientific, literary, artistic or
religious.
The Middle Path is aptly set forth in the following
verse:

Of all sin the avoidance,

Of merit the acquisition.
Of mind the purification.
This is the Buddha’s admonition.
1. Dhammnptuln 183.
 Speaking of this Noble Eightfold Path, Dr. Rhys Davids
says: “If this Buddhist ideal of perfect life is remarkable
when compared with the thought of India at that time, it is
equally instructive when looked at from the comparative
point of view.” 1
The Buddha accepted the ancient Indian theory of karma.
It lays down that the deeds of a being determine the state
of life into which he will be reborn. “We find inequality
prevailing everywhere. Some are born rich, others poor;
some are beautiful, others ugly; some are intelligent, others
witless. What is the reason of this?” asked King Milinda.
His teacher replied that this anomaly was due to the karma
of each being in his former life and quoted the Buddha’s
words in support. “Every living being has karma as its
master, its inheritance, its congenital cause, its kinsman, its
refuge. It is karma that differentiates all beings into low
and high states.’’- The karma or deed may be mental, oral
or physical. Its nature is judged by the accompanying voli­
tion. Involuntary or unconscious acts are not treated as
karma.
According to the Buddhist doctrine of karma, one is not
always compelled by an iron necessity to go through worldly
joys and sorrows from one life to another. Karma is not
predestination imposed on us by some mysterious creator to
which we must helplessly submit ourselves. Though of pre-
Buddhist origin, the doctrine of karma was highly developed
by the Buddha and his followers, who held that a being
possesses the freedom of will to act, irrespective of his acts
in his previous births. Existence, whether in bad or good
conditions, is impermanent though the latter is the better of
the two. The best is freedom from karma, naiskarmya, lead­
ing to Arhatship and consequently to nirvana (moksa of the
Brahmanical philosophy), the total extinction pf personality.
During one of his sermons, the Buddha pointed to the flame
of a lamp, saying it was passing through a cycle of
1. American Lectures, p. 139.
2. Milinda, 65.
The First Serm on. Stone, Gupta, Sarnath. 5th centu ry A.D. (C ourtesy,
D epartm ent of A rchaeology, G overnm ent of India)
The Buddha. Bronze, Sultanganj, Bihar, 5th century A.D. (C ourtesy, City
M useum of Art, B irm ingham )
 rebirth and death. Then he blew out the flame and said,
“The flame is now extinguished. It will not burn any
longer. The same is the case with an Arhat who attains
nirvana (lit. extinction) for he will be born no more.” 1
Nirvana has a secondary meaning when it stands for the ex­
tinction of the springs of action: craving, hatred, delusion
(moha), or their opposites.
Nirvana, the ideal, requires constant spiritual exercise and
contemplation. Before soaring into the subtle regions of
thought, the yogin or the spiritual aspirant cultivates the four
noble sentiments, Brahmaviharas, which give a foretaste of
life in the Brahma world. Metta or universal love, karuna
or compassion, mudita or sympathetic joy and upekkha or
equanimity are the four sentiments which know no bounds of
time, space or class. The Buddha imbued the robber
Angulimala’s mind with metta and the robber was converted
into a spiritual wayfarer. When your fellow beings are in
misery, you must feel compassion for them and when they
are happy you must feel happiness. These feelings are not
restricted to mankind alone but cover all beings, past, pre­
sent, future, whether of this world or of other worlds.
Equanimity should be so real that you should feel the same
towards a man who besmears your arm with sandal paste
and one who hacks your other arm with an axe. Universal
love and equanimity are also regarded as the perfections
(paramitas) of the Bodhisattva.
The code of morality of the Buddhist is mainly founded
on the Buddha’s word, while the Buddha himself repeatedly
says that the Dharma is ancient and passed on by the rsis or
holy men from age to age. The rules of conduct for the
monks and nuns are definite and are given in the Book of
Discipline. The ideal of the monastic order is nirvana
while that of lay devotees, or worldly folk, is rebirth in a
higher heaven. They perform meritorious acts, give charities
to monks, brahmanas and the indigent people, worship their
ancestors and observe fasts four times every month. The lay
I. Sam yutte, I, 159 ; cf. S u ttan ip ita, 23d.
devotees take the vow to follow the tive commandments
(silas) throughout their lives. They are forbidden to deprive
any animal of its life, to take what is not given, to tell false­
hood, to commit adultery and to use intoxicants. For days
when fasts are to be observed, there are three additional
prohibitions.
The Buddha disapproved of superstitious riies and cere­
monies and degrading ascetic practices. He strove to remove
caste distinctions. As he says:

One does not become a brahmana by birth.

One does not become an outcast by birth.
One becomes a brahmaqa by act.
One becomes an outcast by act.'

The Buddha condemned violence against others in any

form whatsoever Sacrifices in which animals—and some­
times human beings—were killed and battles in which men
were put to the sword were condemned by him. Forbear­
ance, according to him, was a greater virtue than the exercise
of the martial spirit. He wanted every man to be virtuous
and wise and not only a chosen few. He preached the
dharma for the welfare and happiness of everyman (bahu-
/anal He said, “O, monks, go on a round for alms to
different places. Don’t go twain to the same place to preach
the Dharma.” He used the mother tongue of the people for
his sermons instead of an artificial language understood only
by the learned few. The Buddha’s religion is not a dogmatic
and elaborate system of rites, runes or prayers but a way of
life, of purity in thinking, speaking and acting. The
Buddha was the first rationalist of the world who asserted
that one was one's own saviour and master without refer­
ence to any outside power.

i. 3uttanip&ta, 64!.
 CHAPTER IV

Four Buddhist Councils

The First Council

According to Pali tradition recorded in canonical and
non-canonical literature, three Sangitis (recitals) or Councils
were held to draw up the canonical texts and the creed in
their pure form. The First Council was held at Rajagrha
immediately after the parinirvana of the Buddha. It is
accepted by critical scholarship that the First Council settled
the Dhamma and the Vinaya and there is no ground for the
view that the Abhidhamma formed part of the canon adopted
at the First Council. It is held that Mahakassapa presided
over the assembly in which Upali and Ananda took an
important part. There was seldom dissension over doctrinal
matters, but the Council was necessitated by the pious
determination of the disciples of the Lord to preserve the
purity of his teaching.
The tradition preserved in the 11th khandhaka of the
Cullavagga has been accepted as authoritative in the different
accounts found in extra-canonical literature, such as the
Dipavamsa and the Mahavamsa.
It is asserted in the Cullavagga that Mahakassapa was not
present at the mahaparinirvana of the Buddha at Kusinagara.
While he was proceeding from Pava to Kusinagara with a
large retinue, the news of the decease of the Master was
brought to him by a naked ascetic of the AjTvika sect. It
is recorded that a thera called Subhadda exhorted the monks,
who were vociferous in their lamentations, to refrain from
expressing grief, and called upon them to think the occasion
a good riddance. Since they were treated as so many
schoolboys by the Master, who often admonished them for
their unbecoming conduct, they would now be free to do as
they thought fit without let or hindrance. This irreverent
remark filled the Venerable Mahakassapa with alarm for the
future safety and purity of the Dhamma preached by the
Master. Mahakassapa also had other reasons for anxiety as
pointed out in the Mahavamsa1. He received the garment of
the Master as a token of authority equal to that of the Master
and was determined to fulfil the Master’s command to estab­
lish the holy truth. The remark of Subhadda was a clear
indication of the necessity of convening a Council for the
fulfilment of this noble objective.
It may be observed in this connection that Subhadda
was not the only person to have such thoughts. There were
many others who felt that with the passing of the Master
the Dhamma he had taught would disappear. The account in
the Tibetan Dulva and also that of Yuan Chwang refer to
this general feeling of doubt and consternation as having been
the motive for the convocation of the First Council.
After some deliberation the town of Rajagrha was selected
for the meeting of the Council. It is said that the Council
was held near the Saptaparni Cave, though according to the
Tibetan Dulva it is supposed to have taken place at the
Nyagrodha Cave. The authority of the Cullavagga, however,
need not be called in question and it has been followed by
almost all subsequent accounts.
The Lokottaravada account places the venue of the
Council on the northern side of Mount Vebhara (or
Vaibhara), while in Asvaghosa’s account, the Indrasala Cave
of Mount Grdhrakuta is mentioned. It is stated in the Pali
Chronicle that the Saptaparni Cave was situated on the side
of Mount Vebhara and that a pandal was erected at the
instance of King AjataSatru outside of this cave. The site of
the cave, however, has not yet been definitely identified. None
the less, there is no dispute about the fact that it is at
Rajagrha that the First Council met. It was evidently select-
1. See Mah&vamsa, Chapter I I I.
ed because accommodation was plentiful and there was no
difficulty about supplies. It is also said in the Dulva that
Rajagrha was selected because King AjataSatru was a firm
believer in the Buddhist faith and that he would therefore
make ample provision for food and lodging. The accounts
in the Mahavamsa and Samanta-pasadika lend support to this
assertion. Hence, the omission of the name of Ajatasatru
in the Cullavagga need not be regarded as evidence against
the authenticity of this account.
The meeting actually took place in the second month
of the rainy season. In the Samanta-pasadika we find a
detailed description of the ceremonies which took place
about six weeks before the actual opening of the session.
Allowing for natural exaggerations, it may be affirmed that
Mahakassapa took the initiative and chose four hundred
and ninety-nine bhikkhus to form the Council. It is
stated in the Cullavagga and confirmed in the Dipavaipsa
that the number of monks was chosen in pursuance of a
vote by the general congregation of monks assembled on the
occasion and at the place of the parinibbana of the Master.
There is general agreement that the number of the
monks selected was five hundred. Yuan Chwang, however,
makes it a thousand which may be an excusable exaggeration
considering the long interval between the event and Yuan
Chwang’s time.
There was, however, some protest regarding the omission
of Ananda from the number of councillors chosen. In the
Cullavagga, it is stated that the bhikkhus strongly interceded
for Ananda, though he had not attained Arhathood, because
of the high moral standard he had reached and also because
he had learnt the Dhamma and the Vinaya from the Master
himself.
Ananda was eventually accepted by Mahakassapa as a
result of the motion on the part of the monks. The proce­
dure followed regarding Ananda has, however, given rise
to a controversy. It will be observed that Ananda was
brought to trial in the course of the proceedings. The
Dulva, however, places the trial before the meeting of the
Council. The account of the Cullavagga is followed by the
Vinayas of the Mahisasakas and Mahasanghikas and declares
that Ananda had to meet certain charges after the recital of
the Dhamma and the Vinaya, but there is no allusion to
Ananda's failings in the Dlpavamsa, the Mahavamsa. Buddha-
ghosa’s Samanta-pasadika and the Mahavastu.

Proceedings of the Council

The procedure followed at the Council was a simple one.
With the permission of the Sangha. the Venerable Maha­
kassapa asked questions on the Vinaya of the Venerable
Upali. All these questions related to the four Parajikas, the
matter, the occasion, the individual concerned, the principal
rule, the amended rule as well as to the question as to who
would be guilty and who innocent of these Parajikas. In
this way the Vinaya text was agreed upon at the Council.
The turn of Ananda came next. The subject matter of
the Sutta-pitaka, in all the five Nikayas, was formulated as
questions for Ananda who gave appropriate answers. These
questions followed the lines adopted in those on the Vinaya—
the occasion of the sermons and the person or persons with
reference to whom they were given. The answers given by
Ananda settled the corpus of the Sutta-pitaka.
Buddhaghosa in the Samanta-pasadika gives a detailed
account of the constituent parts of the Vinaya and the
Sutta-pitaka that were recited at the Council.
According to all these different accounts, beginning with
the Cullavagga and ending with the Samanta-pasadika, the
entire business of the Council is said to have been conducted
by Mahakassapa, Upali and Ananda. The Dlpavamsa,
however, gives a more representative character to the
proceedings and the results achieved. The texts are said to
have been compiled by the bhiksus following the lead of
Upali in the Vinaya and that of Ananda in respect of the
Dhamma. The works as arranged and settled are ascribed
to the collective authorship of the whole Council of bhiksus.
 The account given in the Mahavastu differs materially
from the Pali tradition. It is stated that Katyayana was the
leading exponent and the subject of the discourse was
DaSabhumis. The Mahavastu, however, is the Vinaya of
the Lokottafavadins, a sect which came into existence long
after the Mahasanghikas had brought about the schism in
the Church.
There is, however, no mention of the Abhidhamma-
pitaka as having been a subject of discussion at the First
Council. In later literature, however, questions were raised
regarding the authenticity of the Abhidhamma as an integral
part of the Canon, and this is significant.

Charges against Ananda

As already mentioned, there was considerable agitation
over the admission of Ananda to the Synod. Mahakassapa
is said to have entertained misgivings regarding his admis­
sion on the ground of his failure to reach Arhathood.
which he did actually reach on the eve of the session of
the Council. But in spite of this achievement and of the
belief and convention that the attainment of Arhathood
emancipates a man from all guilt and punishment, Ananda
was arraigned by the monks on several charges which he
explained as follows:
(1) He could not formulate the lesser and minor precepts,
as he was overwhelmed with grief at the imminent death of
the master.
(2) He had to tread upon the garment of the Master
while sewing it as there was no one to help him.
(3) He permitted women to salute first the body of the
Master, because he did not want to detain them. He also
did this for their edification.
(4) He was under the influence of the evil one when he
forgot to request the Master to enable him to continue his
study for a kalpa.
(5) He had to plead for the admission of women into
the Order out of consideration for M ahaprajapati Gautarru
who nursed the Master in his infancy.
The charges are differently framed in the other Vinayas.
According to the Dulva, two_ other charges also seem
to have been brought against Ananda, first that he failed
to supply drinking water to the Buddha though he had thrice
asked for it and secondly, that he showed the privy parts of
the Buddha to men and women of low character. His
replies were (6) that the water of the river was muddy, and
(7) that the exhibition of the privy parts would rid those
concerned of their sensuality. These replies may be taken
as having satisfied the Assembly.
Another important item of business transacted at the
First Council was the passing of the highest penalty
(Brahmadanda) on Channa who was the charioteer of the
Master on the day of the Great Renunciation. This monk
had slighted every member of the Order, high and low,
and was arrogant in the extreme. The penalty imposed
was complete social boycott. When the punishment was
announced to Channa he was seized with profound repent­
ance and grief and was purged of all his weaknesses. In
short, he became an Arhat. The punishment automatically
ceased to be effective.
Briefly, the proceednigs of the First Council achieved
four results: (1) the settlement of the Vinaya under the
leadership of Upali, (2) the settlement of the texts of the
Dhamma under the leadership of Ananda. (3) the trial of
Ananda, and (4) the punishment of Channa.
There is, however, a difference between the account of
the Cullavagga and that of the Dulva regarding the trial of
Ananda. According to the former, the trial took place
practically after the conclusion of the main business, whereas
in the Dulva it comes before his admission to the Council.
Prof. Oldenberg is sceptical about the historical authen­
ticity of the First Council. The irreverent remark of
Subhadda is also found in the Mahaparinibbana-sutta. but
there is not the slightest allusion to the holding of the
Council. This doubt based on omission is at best an
 argumentum ex silentio. The unanimous tradition among
all the schools of Buddhism cannot therefore be brushed
aside as a pious fabrication. In spite of the minor discre­
pancies there is a substantial core of agreement regarding
the convention of the First Council, which was a logical and
ecclesiastical necessity. It was natural that the creed of the
Church should be determined in a systematic way after the
passing of the Master. Fortunately, Prof. Oldenberg appears
to plough a lonely furrow. Scholars, both Eastern and
Western, are all united in their rejection of this scepticism.

The Second Council

The Second Council was held at Vaisali a century after
the passing of the Master. The time recorded should be
taken as a round number. It is recorded in the Cullavagga
that the monks of the Vajji country were in the habit of
practising the Ten Points (dasa vatthuni) which were regarded
as unorthodox by Yasa, the son of Kakandaka. He declared
these practices to be illegal and immoral in the extreme.
The Vajji monks, however, pronounced the penalty of pati-
saranlya-kamma upon him. This necessitated the offender’s
apologizing to the laity who had been forbidden by Yasa to
carry out the precepts of the Vajji monks.
Yasa defended his own view before the laity and by his
eloquent advocacy won them over to his side. This increased
the fury of the offending monks who pronounced the
punishment of ukkhepaniya-kamma upon him, which meant
his virtual expulsion from the Brotherhood.
The Ten Points or Indulgences described in the Culla­
vagga are as follows:
(i) Singilonakappa, or the practice of carrying salt in a
horn. This practice is contrary to pacittiya 38
which prohibits the storage of food.
(ii) Dvangulakappa, or the practice of taking meals when
the shadow is two fingers broad. This is against
pacittiya 37 which forbids the taking of food after
midday.
 (iii) Gamantarakappa, or the practice of going to an­
other village and taking a second meal there on
the same day. This is opposed to pacittiya 35
which forbids over-eating.
(iv) Avasakappa. or the observance of the Uposatha
ceremonies in various places in the same parish.
This practice contravenes the Mahavagga rules of
residence in a parish (sima).
(v) Anumatikappa, or obtaining sanction for a deed
after it is done. This also amounts to a breach of
monastic discipline.
(vi) Acinnakappa. or using customary practices as prece­
dents. This also belongs to the above category.
(vii) Amathitakappa. or the drinking of buttermilk after
meals. This practice is in contravention of pacittiya
35 which prohibits over-eating.
(viii) Jalogiip-patum. or the drinking of toddy. This prac­
tice is opposed to pacittiya 51 which forbids the
drinking of intoxicants.
(ix) Adasakam-nisidanam. or using a rug which has no
fringe. This is contrary to pacittiya 89 which pro­
hibits the use of borderless sheets.
(x) Jataruparajatarn. or the acceptance of gold and silver
which is forbidden by rule 18 of the Nissaggiya-
pacittiya.
The Venerable Yasa openly declared these practices to be
unlawful. After the sentence of excommunication had been
passed on him, he went to Kausambi and sent messengers
to the bhiksus of the Western Country and of AvantT and
of the Southern Country, inviting them to assemble and
decide the question in order to arrest the growth of irreligion
and ensure the preservation of the Vinaya.
Next, he proceeded to the Ahoganga hill where
Sambhuta Sanavasi dwelt. He saluted the venerable monk
and expounded the Ten Theses advocated by the Vajjian
monks. He invited him to take up this question in earnest.
The Venerable SanavasT agreed lo do so. About the same
time, some sixty Arhats came from the Western Country
and assembled on the Ahoganga hill. About eighty-eight
from AvantT and the Southern Country also joined them.
These monks declared the question to be hard and subtle.
They thought of the Venerable Revata who was at Soreyya
and was celebrated for his learning and piety. They pro­
posed to meet him and enlist his support. After a good
deal of travelling they met the Venerable Revata Sahajati.
On the advice of Sambhuta Sanavasi, he approached the
Venerable Revata and placed the issue before him. One
by one, Bhiksu Revata brought up the Ten Points and asked
for his opinion. Each one of them was declared to be invalid
by the Venerable Revata.
Meanwhile, the Vajjian monks were not idle. They also
went to Sahajati in order to enlist the support of the Vene­
rable Revata. They offered him rich presents which the
Venerable Revata refused with thanks. However, they
induced his disciple, Uttara. to take up their cause, but he
failed. At the suggestion of Revata. the mouks proceeded
to Vaisali in order to settle the dispute at the place of its
origin. Seven hundred monks met in a Council, but there
was much rambling talk and fruitless discussion. In order
to avoid further waste of time and irrelevant discussion, the
matter was referred to a committee consisting of four monks
from the East and four from the West. Bhikkhu Ajita was
appointed the seat-regulator. The Venerable SabbakamT
was elected president. The Ten Points were put one by
one and they were declared unlawful. The questions were
stated again and the same decision was arrived at in the
full assembly of the Council.
The unanimous verdict of the assembly declared the
conduct of the Vajjian monks to be unlawful.
The account given above is taken from the Cullavagga.
The accounts in the Mahavagga and the Dipavamsa add
certain points and raise the number of the bhiksus to an
extraordinarily high figure. According to the Dipavamsa
and the Samanta-pasadika, the Council was held in the
 reign of King Kalasoka, a descendent of AjataSatru.
Kalasoka, though formerly in favour of the Vajjian monks,
was prevailed upon to give his support to the Council of
the Theras. The Dlpavamsa mentions that the bhiksus of
Vaisali held another Council which was attended by ten
thousand monks. It was called the Great Council (Maha-
sarigiti). According to the Mahavamsa. a council of seven
hundred theras compiled the Dhamma. In the Samanta-
pasadika. Buddhaghosa observes that after the final judg­
ment. the seven hundred bhiksus engaged in the recital of the
Vinaya and the Dhamma and drew up a new edition resulting
in the Pitakas, Nikayas, Arigas and Dharmaskhandhas.
There are slight divergences in the Chinese and'Tibetan
versions. The Northern" version generally puts the date of
the Council 110 years after the nirvana of the Buddha. In
spite of these minor differences there is substantial agree­
ment on the genesis of the Council and the matters discussed
and decided. Oldenberg, however, throws doubt on the
genuineness of the Council on the ground that the Vinaya
text does not take note of the propositions discussed at
Vaisali, but these points are neither positive nor strong
enough to prove the unanimous tradition of the Buddhist
schools to be an invention of later writers. The story of the
Second Council has every reason to be accepted as genuine.
It resulted in a schism in the Buddhist Church and the seces­
sion of the Mahasanghikas which is confirmed by later
evidence.1

The Third Council

The Third Council was held at.Pataliputra under the aegis
of the celebrated Buddhist monarch, Priyadarsi Asoka.
Asoka was won over to the Buddhist faith within a few
years of his accession to the throne. The occasion for the
Third Council was supplied by the need to establish the
purity of the Canon which had been imperilled by the rise
of different sects and their rival claims, teachings and
1. F u rth er details will be found in Chapters VI-A and X VI.
 practices. According to Kern, the Third Council was not a
general Council but a party meeting of the Sthaviravadins or
Vibhajyavadins. Tissa Moggaliputta, who is reputed to have
converted the Emperor to the Buddhist faith, was pained to
observe the corrupt practices that had crept into the Brother­
hood and the heretical doctrines preached by sectarians
of various descriptions. He succeeded in subduing the
heresies and expelling the .sectarians from the Church. The
most significant outcome of the Council was (hat he restored
the true faith and propounded the Abhidhamma treatise, the
Katha-vatthu, during the session of the Council.
There is an account of the miraculous birth of
Moggaliputta Tissa and his conversion to the Buddhist faith
in the Mahavamsa. The cardinal points in the life of Tissa
are that he was born in a brahmana family and learned the
three Vedas before he was sixteen. He was, however, won
over to the new faith by Thera Siggava and very soon
attained to Arhatship with all its attendant supernatural
powers. It was under his influence that the Emperor made
over tfi the Buddhist Order his son Mahinda and daughter
Sarighamitta. These two crossed to Lanka (Ceylon) and
converted the whole island to the Buddhist faith.
With the conversion of Asoka, the material prosperity
of the monasteries grew by leaps and bounds and the monks
lived in ease and comfort. The heretics who had lost their
income and honour were attracted by these prospects to enter
the Buddhist Order. They continued, however, to adhere to
their old faiths and practices and preached their doctrines as
the doctrines of the Buddha. This caused extreme distress to
Thera Moggaliputta who retired to a secluded retreat on
the Ahoganga motfntain up the Ganges and stayed there for
seven years.
The number of the heretics and false monks became far
larger than that of the true believers. The result was that for
seven years no Uposatha or Pavarana ceremony was held in
any of the monasteries. The community of the faithful monks
refused to observe these festivals with the heretics. The
Emperor was filled with distress at this failure of the Brother­
hood and sent commands for the observance of the Uposatha.
A grievous blunder was committed by the Minister who
was entrusted with this task. He misunderstood the command
and beheaded several monks for their refusal to carry out
the king's order When this sad news was reported to Asoka
he was seized with grief and apologized for this misdeed. He
asked the Brotherhood whether they held him responsible.
Some thought him guilty, some not. The king was perplexed
and enquired if there was any among the monks who could
set his doubt at rest. They all said that only Thera Tissa,
the son of Moggali, could answer his question. Thereupon
the king sent messengers to the monk asking him to come
down to Pataliputra.
After several unsuccessful attempts, the Elder Tissa was
prevailed upon to consent to journey by boat. On the
arrival of the great monk, the monarch himself came forward
to receive him. He went knee-deep into the water and
extended his right hand to the Thera as a token of great
reverence.
The venerable monk was lodged in the pleasure garden
and shown exceeding reverence and courtesy. He was then
asked to perform a miracle, which request he instantly com­
plied with. This confirmed the King in his faith, and he
asked him whether he was guilty of the murder of the
monks through his Minister. The Thera answered that
there was no guilt without evil intent. This satisfied the
scruples of the King.
The venerable monk instructed the King in the holy
religion of the Buddha for a week. The King thereafter
convoked an assembly of the whole community of bhikkhus.
He called the bhikkhus of several persuasions to his presence
and asked them to expound the teachings of the Blessed
One. They set forth their misguided beliefs, such as the
doctrine ot the eternal soul, and so on. These heretical
monks numbering sixty thousand were expelled from the
Brotherhood by the King He thereafter interrogated the
true believers about the doctrine taught by the Blessed One
and they answered that it was Vibhajjavada (the religion of
analytical reasoning). When the Thera corroborated the
truth of this answer, the King made the request that the
brotherhood should hold the Uposatha ceremony so that the
whole community might be purified of evil elements. The
Thera was made the guardian of the Order.
Thera Tissa thereafter elected a thousand bhikkhus of
the Brotherhood who were well versed in the three Pitakas (o
make a compilation of the true doctrine. For nine months he
worked with the monks and the compilation of the true
Tripitaka was completed This Council w;is held in the same
manner and with the same zeal as those of Mahakassapa and
Thera Yasa respectively. In the midst of the Council Thera
Tissa set forth the Kathavatthu-pakarana wherein the heretical
doctrines were thoroughly examined and refuted. Thus
ended the Third Council in which a thousand bhikkhus took
part.
One of the momentous results of this Council was the
despatch of missionaries to the different countries of the
world for the propagation of the Saddhamma. Mahinda.
the son of Asoka. and Sanghamitta. his daughter, were
charged with missionary work in the island of Ceylon. We
have already mentioned the singular success of this mission
in that island. From the edicts of Asoka we know of the
various Buddhist missions he sent to far-off countries in Asia,
Africa and Europe. It is to a large extent due to these mis­
sionary activities that Buddhism became the ruling religion
of a large part of mankind.

The Fourth Council

The Fourth Council was held under the auspices of
Kaniska who was a powerful king of the Saka or Turuska
race. He held sway over a wide tract of country including
Kabul, Gandhara, Sindh, North-West India, Kashmir and
part of Madhyade£a. He was esteemed as highly by the
Northern Buddhists as was A£oka. From numismatic evi­
 dence it appears that originally he was an adherent of
some form of Iranian religion, and was later converted to
the Buddhist faith. Though we have no indisputable evidence
of the date of his conversion, it is almost certain that the date
of the Council held under his inspiration and patronage was
about 100 A.D. The place of the Assembly was, according to
one authority, Jalandhar, and according to another, Kashmir.
The Southern Buddhists do not recognize this Council and
there is no reference to it in the Chronicles of Ceylon. It
would not be wrong to assume that the Buddhists of the
Theravada schools did not participate in the Council.
According to a Tibetan record, one of the results of the
Council was the settling of the dissensions in the Brother­
hood. The eighteen sects were all acknowledged to be the
repositories of the genuine doctrine. According to Yuan
Chwang, King Kaniska became interested in the Buddhist
scriptures and sent for a monk every day to give him instruc­
tion but, as the instruction differed and was often contradic­
tory, the King was perplexed and consulted the Venerable
Parsva about the true doctrine. It was on his advice that he
decided to convoke a Council in which the various sects
would be represented. He was anxious to put an end to the
dissensions in the Church. The King built a monastery for
the accommodation of 500 monks who were called upon to
write commentaries on the Pitakas. The commentary on the
Sutta-pitaka was composed in 100.000 slokas. The Vinaya-
vibhiisa, a commentary on the Vinaya. also consisted of
KM),000 slokas, and the Abhidharma-vibhasa, which was
composed in the Council, also ran to the same number.
The proceedings of the Council were thus confined to the
composition of the commentaries. And it appears that the
doctrines which enlisted the greatest common measure of
agreement were the most strongly stressed. It appears also
that the monks of the Sarvastivada school predominated at
the Council. It is also highly probable that the major
subdivisions of the Sthaviravada schools including the less
orthodox sections were also represented in fair number.
There is no evidence that Mahayana Buddhism was repre­
sented in the proceedings, as it came into prominence only
after the birth of Nagarjuna which was after the Council.
The Rajatarangini holds that Nagarjuna flourished after the
rule of the Turuska kings.
Yuan Chwang reports that after the treatises were com­
posed they were inscribed on copper plates and enclosed? in
stone boxes which were deposited in a tope made for the
purpose. “The most significant trait of the Third Council”,
says Kern, “is that it closed a period of old quarrels between
the sects; it did not prevent the rise of new aspirations.”
Though the details appear to be exaggerated, it would
not be reasonable to disbelieve entirely the tradition which
persisted among the Northern Buddhists regarding the histori­
cal truth of the Fourth Council. We therefore demur to
accept the view of La Valine Poussin that it was “an apolo­
getic quasi-invention”. The fact that Yuan Chwang records
the occurrence of the Council after a lapse of five centuries,
and that the records in the Tibetan Chronicles bearing testi­
mony to the convocation of the Council are of still later date,
does not warrant complete scepticism.
It is a matter of regret that Yuan Chwang and the Tibetan
chroniclers do not expressly mention the medium in which
the woflcs were composed. It is not unreasonable to suppose
that Sanskrit was the language used at the proceedings. In
fact the Abhidharma-koSa of Vasubandhu is based upon
these Vibha§as, and the commentary of YaSomitra cites
ipsissima verba from the old Vibhasa literature. Further­
more, the discovery of the work of Gho§aka, the Abhidhar-
mamrta, which is not far removed from the time of Kaniska,
should clinch all controversy. The Fourth Council may thus
be regarded as an epoch-making event in the history of
Buddhism in that it made Sanskrit the vehicle of Buddhist
scriptures. “All accounts are silent on the idiom of the
sacred texts approved or revised at the Third Council, but
from that silence we must not infer that the Chinese pilgrims
had no notion of a canon that was written in another language
but Sanskrit. It is an untoward circumstance that all the
works of the old canon, the Tripitaka in the proper accep­
tation of the term, so far as they have been preserved, are
only known through translations of Sanskritized texts.”
These words of Kern deserve careful consideration, and per­
haps sound a warning against hasty dogmatism.

APPENDIX I
Councils in Ceylon
According to the Mahavamsa and other Ceylonese tradi­
tions three Councils were held in Ceylon.
The first of these was held during the reign of King
Devanampiya Tissa (247—207 B.C.) under the presidentship
of the Venerable Arittha Thera. This Council was held after
the arrival in the island of Buddhist missionaries, headed by
Thera Mahinda, a son of Emperor Asoka. According to
tradition, sixty thousand Arhats took part in the assembly,
and as desired by Thera Mahinda, the Venerable Arittha, a
Simhalese bhikkhu, recited the Canon. Thera Arittha is
considered to be the first pupil of Mahinda in the line of
the Simhalese Theras and seventh in succession of the
Acariya-parampara (lineage of teachers). The Council took
place at the site of the Thuparama, in Anuradhapura.
In spite of this, the next Council which was held during
the time of King Vattagamani Abhaya (101—77 B.C.)2 is
considered to be the Fourth by the Theravada school although,
in India, Kaniska’s Council was recognized as the Fourth.
According to the Simhalese tradition, not only was the
Tripitaka rehearsed, but its commentaries were revised, recast
and arranged subject-wise. It is said that as Buddhist
religious practice and culture were threatened by growing
materialism and the moral decline of mankind through wars
and famines, the learned Mahatheras decided to hold this
1. See K em , p. 122.
2. Some other sources believe the date to be 88-46 B.C.
 synod so that the entire Canon and the commentaries might
be committed to writing. At the end of the Council, the
texts along with the Attha-kathas were inscribed on palm
leaves and the scriptures were checked over a hundred times.
As many as 500 learned bhikkhus took part in the deli­
berations under the presidentship of Mahathera Rakkhita.
This is called the Alu-vihara or the Alokavihara Council as
it was held at Aloka Cave in the village of Matale in Ceylon.
It is said that for the most part, it was patronized by a Min­
ister of the King.
About a century ago. in 1865 A.D., another Council was
held at Ratnapura in Ceylon under the presidentship of the
Venerable Hikkaduve Siri Sumangala. It continued for five
months and was patronized by Iddamalgoda Basnayaka
Nilame.
APPENDIX II
Councils in Thailand (Siam)
The Sangitivarpsa1, or the History of the Recitals, written
by a royal Thai patriarch named Somdej Phra Vanarat
(Bhadanta Vanaratana) during the reign of Rama I, in B.E.
2332 (1789 A.D.), records as many as nine Councils. Of
these nine Councils, the first three were held in India, the
fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh in Ceylon, and the eighth and
ninth in Thailand. The history of the five Councils includ­
ing the first two of Ceylon is the same as that in the M aha­
vamsa and other Simhalese traditions. The remaining two
Councils, as described in the Sangitivamsa, were not Councils
in the true sense of the term.
‘ The Sixth Council (in Ceylon)
S, The Sixth Council, as mentioned in the Sangitivamsa,

I 1. Only two copies of m anuscripts of this book are preserved in the

I National Library of Thailand in Bangkok. It was published in B .E. 246C
1(1923 A.D.) under the royal decree of King Hama V I to commemorate
I the cremation ceremony of H .R .H . Prince C hudhadhajadhartiloka K rom khun
J|Bejboon Indrajaya, a son of K ing K ama V.
was held during the reign of King Mahanama in B.E. 516 in
which only the commentaries were translated from Simhalese
into Magadhl (Pali) by Bhadanta Buddhaghosa whose scholar­
ship had been tested in many ways by the gods and the
learned bhikkhus of Ceylon.

The Seventh Council (in Ceylon)

The Seventh Council is said to have revised only the
commentaries of the Tripitaka of the Mahatheras and finally
these were recited at the Council held under the president­
ship of the Venerable Mahakassapa. This took place in B.E.
1587 in the reign of King Parakramabahu the Great. The
Conference, which took place in the royal palace, lasted a year.

The Eighth Council (in Thailand)

In order to establish Buddhism on a firm basis. King
Sridharmacakravarti Tilaka Rajadhiraja, the ruler of North­
ern Thailand called this Council in Chiengmai, his capital.
The Assembly was held in Mahabodhi Arama between
B.C. 2000 and 2026 and continued for a year. All the learn­
ed monks in Thailand took part in this Council.

The Ninth Council (in Thailand)

This Council was held in Bangkok in B.E. 2331, after a
war between Thailand and a neighbouring kingdom. The old
capital, Ayuthia (Ayodhya), was destroyed by fire and many
books and manuscripts of the Tripitaka were reduced to
ashes. Moreover, the Brotherhood was disorganized and
morally weakened by reason of the prolonged hostilities.
King Rama I and his brother were perturbed at the moral
laxity of the Sangha. They consulted the learned brethren in
order to convene a Council so that the faith might be restored.
Under the royal patronage 218 Elders and 32 lay scholars
assembled together and continued the recitation of the
Tripitaka for about a year. During and after this Council,
the revival of Buddhism was in full swing in Thailand.
Monasteries were rebuilt and pagodas were restored. Owing
to the enthusiasm of the general public many new monaster­
ies and temples were also built.

APPENDIX III

Councils in Burma
The first three Councils having been held in India and
the fourth in Ceylon where Pali books were committed to
writing, the Fifth was held in order to prepare a uniform
edition of the Pali Canon and to record it on marble slabs.
This great Buddhist Council was convened at Mandalay in
1871 A.D. (B.E. 2414) under the patronage of King Min-don-
min, and 2,400 learned monks and teachers participated. The
Elders Jagarabhivamsa, Narindabhidhaja and Sumangala
Sami presided in turn. The recitation and recording of the
Tripitaka on marble continued for about five months in the
royal palace. Various available editions of the Tripitaka
were used for comparison and collation by the learned
Mahatheras, and the recording done on as many as 729 marble
slabs selected for the purpose.

The Sixth Great Buddhist Council

The Sixth Buddhist Council was inaugurated in May 1954,
in Rangoon, with the collaboration and participation of the
learned bhikkhus of the various countries of the world, parti­
cularly India, Ceylon, Nepal, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos and
Pakistan. The Venerable Abhidhaja Maharattha Guru
Bhadanta Revata presided.
About 500 bhikkhus from Burma, well versed in the study
and practice of the teachings of the Buddha, were invited to
take the responsibility for re-examining the text of the Tripi­
taka. Similar groups of monks were organized in each of the
Buddhist countries to examine the texts of the Tripitaka. The
Great Council that was inaugurated in 1954 was to go on till
the completion of its task at the full moon of VaiSakha, 1956,
that is, the 2,500th anniversary of the Buddha’s mahapari-
nirvana. It is believed that this anniversary will bring about
a great revival of Buddhism and universal peace throughout
the world.
On the auspicious days of the inauguration of the Sixth
Council, which continued for three days, many valuable and
important messages were received from all corners of the
world, including India. Here we reproduce the message of
Dr. Rajendra Prasad, the President of India, and Shri
Jawaharlal Nehru, the Prime Minister:

“In sending my reverential greetings to the Chattha

Sangayana which is being inaugurated in Rangoon on the
VaiSakha Purnima, my thought naturally goes back to
similar Councils which have been held during nearly 2,500
years since the Parinibbana of the Buddha. The first three of
these great and historic gatherings were held respectively at
Rajagrha, Vaisali and Pataliputra, the three places famous in
Buddhist history and sanctified by the repeated tread on their
soils of the Great Teacher. The other two were held in
Ceylon and Burma respectively, which received his teaching
and have till today kept it alive in their own life and culture.
It is a great idea to have the original texts revised and re-
edited and brought out not only in their original form in
Burmese script with Burmese translation but also the original
texts with translations in the Hindi and English languages
and scripts.
The programme of establishing a great Buddhist Univer­
sity which will serve as a centre for radiating light as a sequel
to this great gathering will help not only to re-enliven and
revive the teaching of the Master, but will also emphasize
the great need in modern times for the spiritual and moral
well-being of mankind, which can be attained not only by
supplying its material needs and requirements in however
abundant a measure that may be possible, but kindling in him
that spiritual and moral light which alone can solve the prob­
lems bom of greed, hatred and delusion which are at the
root of all the conflicts that threaten to involve mankind in
destruction.
 Let us hope that it will succeed in not only reviving in­
terest in Buddhism in countries where the religion of the
Buddha is not followed today, but also in reinforcing and
strengthening faith in the lives of those who are fortunate
enough even today to follow that faith. May this great gather­
ing once again bring the message of peace and goodwill to
distracted mankind.” r a je n d r a p r a s a d

“About a year ago or more, the Prime Minister of Burma

told me that a Great Council or Synod of Buddhism was
being organized and would be held in Rangoon. My mind
went back to the previous Councils in the history of Buddhism
from the days of the First Council which was called by King
Ajatasatru of Magadha at Rajagrha, to that held in Mandalay
in 1871. These Councils were landmarks in the history of
Buddhism.
And now I welcome the holding of the Sixth Council of
this great religion. It is inaugurated on a date of great
historical significance—the 2.500th anniversary of the Buddha.
The full moon which shone with all its brightness on the day
of the birth of the Buddha, on his attainment of enlighten­
ment and on his parinibbana, will be shining again on this
auspicious day after two and a half millenia of human history.
This world Council will consider the doctrines and tenets
of Buddhism and will perhaps codify them afresh for those
of the Buddhist faith. But the Buddha has been something
greater than all doctrine and dogma, and his eternal message
has thrilled humanity through the ages. Perhaps at no time
in past history was his message of peace more needed for a
suffering and distracted humanity than it is today. May this
great Council spread anew his great message of peace and
bring a measure of solace to out generation.
I pay my homage to the memory of the Buddha and send
my respectful greetings to the great Council at Rangoon
which is meeting on an auspicious anniversary at a time of
great need for the world.” ja w a h a rla l n e h r u
 CHAPTER V

Asoka and the Expansion o f Buddhism

I. A s o k a
Asoka is rightly looked upon as the first great royal patron
of Buddhism. Indeed, it was through his efforts that
Buddhism came to occupy the prominent position it did in
India and abroad.
According to Buddhist literary sources, in his youth A§oka
was known to be a man of fierce temperament and called
Canda Asoka (fierce Asoka). As a prince* he was appoint­
ed Governor of Vidisa (modern Bhilsa) where he married a
rich merchant’s daughter, who was to be the mother of Prince
Mahendra. As soon as he came to know that Bindusara, his
father, was on the point of death, he rushed to the capital,
Pataliputra, occupied it and killed all the princes barring his
own brother. This act on his part must have aroused strong
popular opposition and it is said that ASoka had to contend
with the situation for four years before he was crowned King
with public acclaim.
Asoka’s thirteenth rock-edict says that at the end of eight
years of his reign, he invaded the country of Kalinga, modern
Orissa. In that invasion, many thousands of men were
killed, several thousands were carried off into captivity and
thousands died from the effects of the war. It is well-known
that this tremendous loss of life proved to be a turning
point in the life of ASoka. He repented and decided to
undertake no further military campaigns. Instead he
began to think of -religious conquests, of dhammavijaya.
He wanted to spread among his own subjects and among
people outside his kingdom a new life, to inculcate among
them a love of piety and religion. To this end he appointed
officers to go round the country on periodical religious
missions.
Asoka thus became a zealous follower of the Buddha
and took upon himself the task of making known to the
people the teachings of the Lord. In his Bhabra edict,
seven passages occur and most of these have been identified
with certain passages in Pali literature. He wanted all
people— monks as well as laymen—to have these passages
read out to them. He thought that by inculcating the
teachings of the Buddha, men and women would become
better people. He paid reverence to the Buddha, the
Dhamma, his Law, and the Sangha, his Order of Buddhist
monks. He undertook pilgrimages to the Buddhist holy
places. At the end of twenty years of his reign, he
visited the LumbinTdevi garden, where the Buddha was
born. There he erected a pillar bearing an inscription
which says that he visited the place to pay homage to the
birth-place of the Buddha. Moreover, to commemorate
his visit to the place he exempted the local people from
paying taxes to his government. Similarly, he paid visits
to Bodh Gaya and Sarnath where the Buddha had attained
enlightenment and preached his first sermon. At the latter
place, there is a pillar, now in fragments, which speaks of
excommunicating those who would break the unity of the
Buddhist Sangha.
What was Asoka’s conception of the Dhamma? He
recognized the sanctity of life and condemned the slaughter
of animals, whether as sacrifices or otherwise. At one time,
he said, a large number of animals were killed in his kitchen
for food for his household, but he had reduced the number
to only two peacocks and one deer, and these were killed
every day. He further declared that even these would
not be killed in the future. He wanted the people to
cultivate moral virtues, such as the observance of truth,
restraint, kindness, charity, purity, gentleness, respect,.obe­
dience to one’s elders and teachers, liberality to friends,
kinsmen, acquaintances and even servants and slaves, as
advocated in a famous Pali sutta, the Sigalovada-sutta of
the Digha-nikaya. He enjoined the control of evil thoughts,
such as anger, ferocity, conceit, envy and misguided self-
will. He advocated tolerance for all religious sects and
denominations, and respect for all pious men, such as the
Sramanas, Brahmanas, Ajivikas and Jainas. It is also well
known that he dedicated caves to the AjiVikas. He wanted
all religious denominations to desist from self-praise and
condemnation of others. The pillar edicts of ASoka
which were inscribed towards the end of his reign show
that he was completely converted to the Buddhist ideas of
kindness to all created beings. He drew up a list of dif­
ferent kinds of living beings which were to be exempted
from slaughter. He felt that the same consideration should
be shown to does and female pigs that were bearing, or
suckling young ones. He laid down that animals need not
feed on other animals. He condemned the castration of
animals and their branding on Buddhist holy days, such
as the eighth, fourteenth or fifteenth of each fortnight, or
on holy days of the Tisya constellation. He also set free
prisoners from his prisons from time to time. He wanted
all people to come closer to the gods in virtue and thus
minimize the difference between gods and men.
As already described, Asoka appointed religious officers
of various grades to different provinces to help the people
to lead a pious life. He had his edicts carved on rocks
and stone pillars. The rock edicts are mostly to be found
in places at the periphery of his vast empire and the pillar
edicts along high roads or at places of pilgrimage where
large crowds gathered. He wanted his subjects to
practise the laws of piety, and he and his family also prac­
tised them. He went on religious tours instead of going
on hunting expeditions, as he thought that these would
enable him to meet ascetics and brahmanas. He could
thus have religious discussions and confer large charities
upon them. He performed pious acts such as planting
trees, digging wells, opening hospitals for men and beasts,
in his own land and in the lands of his neighbours like the
Cojas and the Pandyas, in Kerala and other countries as
far south as Ceylon. This, however, was not all. As we
shall see, A ioka’s religious missions found their way to many
far-off countries, too.
As a staunch follower of Buddhism, he conferred large
gifts upon the monastic establishments of the Buddhists.
This attracted many non-Buddhists to the Buddhist Sangha
for an easier life with the result that the purity of the
Sangha suffered and consequendy its periodical religious
observances were interrupted. Hence it was decided to hold
a religious synod at Pataliputra to determine the true
nature of the Dhamma, and to banish those who would not
adhere to it. Apparently, it was after this Council that it
was decided to send religious missions to various countries.
One learns from Buddhist literary sources that such mis­
sions were sent to the land of the Yavanas (Ionian Greeks),
Gandhara, Kashmir, and the Himalayan regions in the
North; to the western part of India such as Aparantaka; the
southern parts such as Vanavasi and Mysore, and farther
south to countries as far as Ceylon and Suvarna-bhumi, the
Land of Gold (Malay and Sumatra). These records dwell
at length particularly on the mission to Ceylon, where
Asoka had sent his son Mahendra and his daughter
Sanghamitra.
This information is confirmed and further supplemented
by Asoka’s thirteenth rock edict wherein it is stated that he
tried to spread the Dhamma not only in his territory or
among the peoples of the border lands but also in kingdoms
far off, such as those of Antiochus (Antiyoko) II, King of
Syria, and the kingdoms of four other kings, still farther
off, i.e„ Ptolemy (Turameya) of Egypt, Antigonos (Anta-
kini) of Macedonia, Alexander (Alikasundara) of Epirus,
an ancient district of northern Greece, and Magas of
Cyrenia, in North Africa. He has also mentioned the
names of Yavanas, Kambojas, Pandyas, Cojas, Andhras,
Pulindas, Ceylon, etc., in this context. In the second rock
edict we are told that in practically all these countries,
A£oka had opened hospitals, both for men and beasts, had
dug wells and tanks and planted trees and medicinal plants
for the welfare and happiness of all beings.
It is clear that the efforts of ASoka were largely respon­
sible for the popularization of the teachings of the Buddha
in and outside India. It is he who paved the way for the
Buddhist missionaries—occasionally helped by kings like
Kaniska—to take Buddhism to Central Asia, China. Japan
and Tibet in the North, and to Burma, Thailand, Cambodia
and other countries in the South.

II. E x p a n s io n o f B u d d h i s m

A. In India
During the first and second centuries after the Nirvana,
Buddhism could hardly be distinguished from other ascetic
movements. It was evidently in the Maurya period that
Buddhism emerged as a distinct religion with great poten­
tialities for expansion. But even at the beginning of this
period, its activities were mainly confined to Magadha and
Kosala. Small communities of brethren may have come
into existence also in the West, in Mathura and Ujjayini. At
the time of the Second Council, which was held at Vaisali
about a hundred years after the Buddha, invitations were
sent to communities in distant places like Patheya, Avantl,
Kausambi, Sankasya and Kanauj. Mathura had become an
important centre of Buddhism in the early years of Maurya
supremacy.
The history of the Buddhist Church in this period was
to all appearances not an undisturbed one. Owing to the
gradual expansion of Buddhism and for want of regular
communications between the distant communities the Church
was gradually losing its unity. Local influences were slowly
affecting the conduct of the various communities and shaping
them in different ways. This ultimately gave rise to various
schools. During the reign of Asoka, the Church must have
shown symptoms of serious disintegration and the inscriptions
of ASoka tell us that he took special measures to safeguard
its unity.
Asoka’s patronage must have contributed to the spread
of Buddhism not only within the empire but also to
distant lands even in his lifetime. It is quite conceiv­
able that after the. reorganization of the Magadhan
Church at the Third Council and with the co-operation of
the emperor himself, efforts were made to carry Buddhism
to distant countries. The success of the first missionary
activity might not have been very great so far as foreign
countries were concerned but the epigraphic records and
Buddhist monuments of post-ASokan times bear clear testi­
mony to the fact that within the Maurya empire such activities
must have had great success.
With the advent of the Sungas, Buddhism lost official
patronage. The Buddhist accounts are unanimous in repre­
senting Pusyamitra Suiiga as a persecutor of Buddhists.
The temporary undermining of Buddhism by Pusyamitra,
however, was ineffective, for the people had taken up the
cause of Buddhism. This popular support was at the root
of the great progress made by Buddhism during the Suiiga-
Kanva period. This is made amply clear by the very large
number of private donations recorded on the Buddhist
monuments of the period. A number of famous Buddhist
establishments like the Bharhut stupa, the Karle caves, and
the Sanchi stupa belong to the Sunga-Kanva period and
testify to the great prosperity which Buddhism enjoyed then.
Buddhism had developed from a monastic religion into a
popular one. It had become a theistic religion with the
Buddha and his relics as cult objects.
It was at this time that Buddhism was adopted by
the Greeks in the North. King Menander was a great
champion of the faith. After he had established his
capital at Sakala1, he performed many acts of piety. From
1. S&galfi, mentioned a t the commencement of th e Milinda-pafiha.
Menander’s time the Greeks in India adopted Buddhism
as their religion, and thereafter played the part of donors
to Buddhist establishments. The Pali texts represent the
Greeks as taking part even in missionary activities. We
are told that after the conversion of the Yavana (Greek)
country to Buddhism, Moggaliputta Tissa went to that
country and selected a Greek Elder, Dharmaraksita, for mis­
sionary work. Dharmaraksita was then sent to the country
of Aparantaka where he successfully preached the Law of the
Buddha and converted thousands of people, including women
and nobles. The Greeks in India were also responsible for
evolving a new style of Buddhist art, usually known as Indo-
Greek, which flourished mostly in the Punjab and north­
western India.
The rapid expansion of Buddhism during Asoka’s
time to various parts of India resulted in the rise of
Buddhist sects whose number is given as eighteen. The
origin of these sects was not due so much to doctrinal
differences, except in certain cases, as to the geographical
factor. With the spread of Buddhism, communities were
founded in various parts of the country. As there was no
co-ordinating organization, many of the communities
developed their own traditions for the preservation of the
ancient teachings. In some cases, the differences between
the schools were insignificant. That is why a number of
them either disappeared or merged with the others within
a short time. The Mahasahghika during the second
century after the Nirvana gave rise to eight different
schools, among which the Ekavyavaharika, the Lokottara-
vada, the Aparasaila, and the Uttarasaila were prominent.
Division started in the SthaviravSda camp a century later. The
first schism gave rise to two schools—the Sarvastivada and the
Mula-sthaviravada (also called the Haimavata). Since its in­
ception in Vaisali, the Mahasanghika was mostly confined to
the East from where it spread, especially to the South. The
followers of this school probably did not constitute a
strong community in the North as they are mentioned
only in two inscriptions. The Mahiisanghika developed a
literature of its own and in fact it claimed to have preserved
the most authentic tradition of early Buddhism in so far
as it traced its lineage from MahakaSyapa who was
responsible for convoking the first Buddhist Council, at
which the Canon was recited for the first time according
to tradition. The existence of practically all the branches
of the Mahasahghika mentioned in literature in the region
of Dhanyakataka shows that it had become the most
important stronghold of the Mahasarighika under the
patronage of the Sata-vahanas and their successors in the
Krishna valley. These schools continued to prosper till
the 3rd or 4th century A.D. The schools arising from the
other camp, the Sthaviravada, have also left their definite
mark in literature and epigraphy from the Sunga period
right up to the Kusana period and may be said to have
flourished from 200 B.C. to 200 A.D. The Sarvastivada
and its branches flourished mostly in the North. The
Sarvastivada school was held in esteem in the entire region
from Mathura to Nagara(hara) and from Taksasila to
Kashmir.
Kaniska’s reign is also a landmark in the history of
Buddhism. Tradition not only represents him as a great
patron of the religion but also associates him with a
galaxy of Buddhist masters who shaped Buddhism in later
times. It was in this period that the Indo-Greek school of
Buddhist art achieved its greatest development. Buddhist
monks from India carried Buddhism to Central Asia and
China.- A new form of Buddhism, the Mahayana, of far-
reaching consequence, also came to be evolved at the same
time. Kaniska must have contributed a good deal to the
progress of Buddhism.
With the advent of the Gupta dynasty, Buddhism
received a new impetus. Although the Gupta emperors
were Bhagavatas, the adherents of a Brahmanical faith,
they were sympathetic towards the cause of Buddhism.
We have a number of important inscriptions recording
gifts of private donors in the regions of KauSambi, Sanchi,
Bodh Gaya and Mathura from the beginning of the 5th
century A.D. till the end of the 6th. There is a large number
of records, written by the Chinese pilgrims who came to
India in this period, which throw light on the condition
of Buddhism in the country. Moreover, Buddhist art
with its relics at Mathura, Sarnath, Nalanda, Ajanta, Bagh
and Dhanyakataka speaks eloquently of the prosperity
that Buddhism enjoyed in the Gupta period. Fa-hien, who
came to India during the reign of Chandragupta II, testi­
fies to the flourishing condition of Buddhism, especially
in Uddiyana, Gandhara, Mathura, Kanauj, KoSala,
Magadha and Tamralipti. The foundation of the institu­
tions at Nalanda was also due to the patronage of
the Gupta rulers.
From the middle of the 7th century A.D. again we have a
number of records giving a clear picture of the condition
of Buddhism in India. So far as its extent is concerned,
it had reached its height in this period but it also showed
certain symptoms of decay. Nevertheless, some of the
great centres of Buddhist study like Nalanda and Valabhi
were still keeping the light burning vigorously. King
Har§avardhana in his later days became a follower of
Mahayana Buddhism. In the West the rulers of the
Maitraka dynasty at Valabhi had become patrons of the
Buddhist faith from the middle of the 6th century A.D.
Numerous Buddhist relics discovered at Valabhi testify to
the existence of Buddhism in that area up to the 10th
century A.D.
The century that followed H aifa’s rule saw a state of
anarchy unfavourable to the growth of a monastic reli­
gion like Buddhism, which depended so much on the
patronage of the rulers. Buddhism still lingered in
Kashmir, Swat Valley, Valabhi and other places in the
North but its condition was far from prosperous. However,
while Buddhism was slowly disappearing from other parts
of India, it experienced another great revival in eastern
India under the patronage of the Pala dynasty. Most of
the rulers of this dynasty were devout Buddhists. They
were responsible for new endowments to the Nalanda
monastery and also for the foundation of new monasteries,
such as Vikramasila1, OdantapurT and Somapuri.
Thus it may be concluded that, although some of the
old centres of study had fallen into neglect before the rise
of the Guptas, new and more vigorous centres came into
existence under them. These new centres were numerous but,
during the early Gupta period, Kashmir was the most pre­
dominant centre of Buddhist studies. Later, after the
foundation of Nalanda, the centre of studies gradually
shifted to eastern India. Nalanda dominated the whole
Buddhist world for nearly three centuries, from the 6th to
the 9th. In spite of the patronage of the great Pala rulers,
however, Nalanda was soon eclipsed by two other institu­
tions, Vikramasila and Odantapuri which had been founded
under the Palas. Eastern India, with its new institutions,
Vikramasila, Odantapuri. Jagaddala. Vikramapurl, etc.,
almost monopolized the commerce in Buddhist culture
from the 9th to the 12th centuries A.D.

B. In Northern Countries
Central Asia and China
Although we do not know the definite date of the intro­
duction of Buddhism to Central Asia, it is almost certain
that the nomadic tribes, the Sakas and Kusanas, as well as
Indian merchants had carried elements of Indian culture
with Buddhism to the different states of Eastern Turkestan
at least a century before the Christian era. Positive evi­
dence is now available to prove that small Indian colonies
had been founded in the southern part of this region from
Khotan up to the Labnor region before the Christian era.
An Indian dialect, similar to that of north-western India,
was the official language in some of these states. The
1. Also w ritten Vikr&raa£il&.
 Indian colonists were the first to carry Buddhism to this
region.
Ancient Khotanese traditions claim that a son of ASoka
named Kustana founded the kingdom 234 years after the
Nirvana, i.e., about 240 B.C., and that it was the latter’s
grandson, Vijayasambhava, who introduced Buddhism in
Khotan. A Buddhist scholar named Arya Vairocana came
from India and became the King’s preceptor. The first
monastery in Khotan was built in 211 B.C. The tradition
further claims that an Indian dynasty ruled Khotan for
56 generations during which Buddhism continued to be the
dominant religion of the state. In its heyday, Buddhism
had in Khotan nearly four thousand establishments, includ­
ing monasteries, temples and chapels. Chinese pilgrims,
such as Fa-hien, Song-yun and Yuan Chwang, testify to the
flourishing condition of Buddhism in Khotan until about the
8th century A.D. Khotan became the place of the dissemina­
tion of Buddhism to other states in the South, such as Niya,
Calmadana (Cherchen), Kroraina (Loulan), and also to
Cokkuka (Kashgar).
There were four important states in the northern part of
Chinese Turkestan, viz., Bharuka (Aksu), Kucha, Agnide£a
(Kara-shahr) and Kao-chang (Turfan). Kucha was the most
powerful among the four states and played a preponderant
role in the spread of Buddhism to other northern states as well
as to China. Kucha must have received Buddhism in the 1st
eentury A.D. The Chinese annals of the 3rd century clearly
state that there were nearly one thousand stQpas and temples
in Kucha in this period. Kuchean Buddhist monks had gone
to China in this period and took an active part in the work
of translation of Buddhist texts. Archaeological finds show
that Buddhism was a flourishing religion in the North till
about the 8th century A.D. After the decline of these states.
Buddhism was patronized till the 11th century A.D. by the
Uigur Turks who had their capital in the Turfan region.
China received Buddhism from the nomadic tribes of
Eastern Turkestan towards the end of the 1st century B.C.,
 and within a century it was officially recognized as a religion
worthy of toleration. Buddhist scholars began coming to
China from the end of the 1st century after Christ and their
activities were intensified more and more. But throughout
the Han period (65—220 A.D.), although a number of schol­
ars had come to China, worked among the Chinese and
translated a fairly large number of texts into Chinese, Bud­
dhism had a hard struggle with the indigenous religious sys­
tems. Confucianism, with its traditional prestige at the Court
and its hold on the nobility, looked down upon Buddhism as
a barbarian religion. In the Han period attempts were made
to transform Confucianism into a religion but its religious
character was much less developed than Buddhism. Taoism
was more firmly established as a religion but its philosophical
background was much weaker than that of Buddhism. This
gave Buddhism certain advantages over the indigenous
religions.
As Buddhism was a much richer religion than Confucian­
ism and as it possessed a much profounder philosophy than
Taoism, it soon attracted the Chinese. The Chinese literati
themselves started pleading for Buddhism. Thus Mou-tseu,
who lived towards the closing years of the Han period (170 —
225 A.D.), wrote a treatise in which he compared the doctrines
of Buddhism with the teachings of Confucius and Lao-tseu
and tried to establish the superiority of the former.
The writings of such people as Mou-tseu gradually
succeeded in creating confidence about Buddhism in the minds
of the educated Chinese. Besides, the life of purity followed
by the Indian Buddhists who had come to China and by
their Chinese disciples did not fail to attract the Chinese to
this new faith. The patronage of fhe foreign dynasties in
China also helped the cause of the new religion. The Wei
dynasty which came to power in the 4th century A.D. was of
foreign origin. They were great patrons of Buddhism and
were responsible for the beginnings of all the great works of
Buddhist art in that country. The first emperor of the
dynasty made Buddhism a State religion.
 Henceforward, Buddhism continued to prosper in China
until about the 11th century A.D. Successions of Indian
teachers from India kept the torch burning. From the 4th
century A.D., however, the Chinese monks themselves started
going to India and making a deep study of Buddhism under
Indian teachers. A vast Buddhist literature, translated from
Indian sources by Indian and Chinese scholars, helped the
Chinese to read Buddhism in translation. Some of the trans­
lations also had great literary value and came to be looked
upon as classics in Chinese literature.
The influence of Buddhism on Chinese life and thought
was tremendous. Besides certain forms of theistic religious
beliefs, Buddhism introduced in China the doctrine of re­
birth, the idea of causality, and the belief in reward and re­
tribution. Buddhist philosophy, especially its conception of
reality which permeates everything in nature and the notion
of universal impermanence, had an abiding influence on the
poets and artists and influenced China’s aesthetic outlook.
Buddhism also brought to the Chinese a deep religious feel­
ing and a profound faith, which inspired the great works of
art in China, such as we find in Yun-Kang. Hung-men, Tun-
huang and other places.1
Korea and Japan
Korea, one of the important Buddhist countries in the
Far East, was introduced to Buddhism early in the 4th
century A.D. In those days, the Korean peninsula was
divided into three parts, namely, Koguryu in the North,
Pakche in the South-West and Silla in the South-East. The
history of Buddhism in these three parts of Korea is there­
fore not identical. Buddhism was first brought to Koguryu
by a Chinese monk in 372 A.D. It was twelve years later
that Buddhism came to Pakche through the agency of a
Central Asian monk named Marananda. Silla was the last
to embrace Buddhism which came nearly 30 years after it
had been introduced in Koguryu.
1. For further information see Chapter V I, pp. 124-131.
 The chief significance of Korean Buddhism lies in the
role it played as an intermediary between China and Japan,
for, although Buddhism received royal patronage almost
throughout its history in Korea, there was no notable deve­
lopment in its doctrine.
Korean Buddhism was at the height of its power in the
11th century A.D. during the rule of the Wang dynasty of
Korea. Before this period, Buddhism had been spreading
under the influence of the kings of the Silla dynasty. At this
time, several famous scholars went to China in order to study
the Buddhist doctrines. Of these. Yuan Ts’o (613 - 683 A.D.)
of the Fa Sian sect, Yuan Hiao (617—670 A.D.) and Yi Siang
(625—702 A.D.) of the Houa Yen sect are the best known.
After the 11th century A.D., Buddhism, which had hitherto
been the religion of the aristocracy related to the Silla dynasty,
became the faith of the common people, owing largely to the
efforts of Yi T ’ien, P’u Chao and a number of other monks.
Yi T ’ien, a scholar famous for his editing of the Catalogue
of the Chinese Tripitaka (called Yi T’ien Lu), studied
Buddhism in China and then propagated the doctrine of both
the Houa Yen and the T ’ien T ’ai sects in Korea. He also
wrote articles on Buddhism in the Korean language. How­
ever, it was P’u Chao who introduced Korea to Zen Bud­
dhism which, in later days, was to play such an important
part in its history. During the period when the Yuan dynasty
of the Mongolian Empire had gained sovereignty over the
Wang dynasty. Korean Buddhism was much influenced by
Lamaism. After the decline of the Mongolian Empire, the.
Rhee dynasty of Chosen (Korea) accepted Confucianism as
the leading principle of its culture and thus dislodged
Buddhism from its place of honour. Nevertheless, even
though it lost royal patronage in Korea, Buddhism continued
to flourish as the religion of the masses.
Modern Korean Buddhism is, in. fact, Zen Buddhism
tinged with a belief in Amitabha Buddha or Maitreya
Bodhisattva.
Japan has been called the land of Mahayana Buddhism,
This form of Buddhism originally flourished in China and
travelled to Japan via Korea. Thereafter Buddhism deve­
loped through the efforts of both Chinese and Japanese
monks. It is generally held by Japanese scholars that
Buddhism first made its appearance in the year 552 A.D.
and that it came from Kudara (Pakche), one of the kingdoms
of Korea.
For our purpose, the historical division of Japanese
Buddhism can be made as follows: —
(i) The period of importation. 6th century to 7th
century A.D. (The Asuka and Nara period.)
(ii) The period of nationalization. 9th century to 14th
century A.D. (The Heian and Kamakura period.)
(iii) The period of continuation. 15th century to 20th
century A.D. (The Muromachi, Momoyama, and
Edo period, and the modem age.)
(i) The period of importation.—The first manifestations
of Buddhism in Japan consisted chiefly in adapting it to
Shintoism, a native cult of Japan. For this purpose, Buddhist
monks accepted ancestor worship and admitted, side by side
with the Buddha’s image, the gods of Shintoism on the ground
that these represented the various incarnations of the Buddha.
In this manner Buddhism was able gradually to establish itself
among the common people without rejecting Shintoism
outright.
An important advantage was that when Buddhism first
made its appearance in Japan, it was introduced along with
the highly developed culture of China. It was largely be­
cause of its cultural character that Buddhism was accepted
by the aristocracy, which was the intellectual class of Japan
in those days. Once it was patronized by the aristocracy,
Buddhism rapidly spread throughout the country. Several
emperors of ancient Japan adopted Buddhism and accepted
its tenets as their guiding principles in life. Prince Shotoku
<574—621 A.D.), Regent of the Empress Suiko, made a great
contribution to Buddhism by founding the Horyuji monastery
and by writing commentaries on three scriptures. In fact.
 he did for Buddhism in Japan what King ASoka had done
for it in India, and what Constantine did for Christianity in
the Roman Empire.
The sects introduced from China in those days were six
in number: Kusha (the Abhidharma-kosa school), Sanron
(the Three-Treatise school of the Madhyamika), Jojitsu (the
Satyasiddhi-Sastra school), the Kegon (the Avatamsaka
school), Hosso (the Dharma-laksana school) and Ritsu (the
Vinaya school). It would, however, be better to call these
Buddhist institutions rather than religious sects.
(ii) The period-of nationalization.—The second period of
Japanese Buddhism began with the founding of two new
sects, the Tendai and the Shingon, by Saicho (767—822 A.D.)
and Kukai (774—835 A.D.), respectively. Their object was
to nationalize Buddhist doctrines in order to make Buddhism
a religion of the common people. At the same time, they
aimed at disciplining the monks in Buddhist monasteries who
kept aloof from the everyday world. The dominant feature
of these two sects is that they laid stress not merely on spiritual
salvation, but also on the fulfilment of the doctrine in this
world.
By dint of the efforts of both the Tendai and the Shingon
monks, Buddhism became nationalized and gradually gained
in popularity. However, a number of problems remained to
be solved. The doctrines were still too scholarly to be easily
understood by the common people, who tended to accept
only the superstitions attached to them. Furthermore, as the
environment changed with the spread of Buddhism, it in­
duced many people to give up this world in order to seek
spiritual rest in the world beyond.
A new Buddhist movement arose in the 10th century
A.D. in the form of belief in Amitabha Buddha. Many
people were converted to this faith, and they simply recited
the name of Amitabha Buddha with the object of being re­
born in his Pure Land. This movement was followed by
independent new sects which also emphasized belief in
Amitabha. The new sects, which arose during the 12th and
13th centuries, were as follows: Yuzu-nenbutsu, founded by
Ryonin (1072— 1132 A.D.), Jodo, founded by Honen U 133—
1212 A.D.), Jodo-shin, founded by Shinran (1173— 1262 A.D.),
and the Ji, founded by lppen (1239— 1289 A.D.). The
factors common to these sects were to be found in the defini­
tion of laymanship and in the efforts to purify and simplify
both doctrine and practice. Owing to these features, they
were able to attract many followers from among the farmers,
peasants and warriors.
The Kamakura period, during which these sects came
into being, coincided with the rise of feudalism in Japan.
It was also in this period that two new sects made their
appearance. One was the Zen, introduced by Eisai (1141 —
1215 A.D.) and Dogen (1200— 1253 A.D.), and the other was
the Nichiren, founded by Nichiren (1222— 1282 A.D.).
These two sects also shared the same characteristics as those
of the Pure Land sects mentioned above, although there
was a remarkable contradiction in their principles. One
believed in salvation through faith in the power of others,
the underlying philosophy of Pure Land Buddhism, and the
other in the doctrine of salvation through one’s own en­
lightenment on which the Zen and the Nichiren sects are
based. Zen Buddhism found its adherents mainly among
the warriors, and influenced Japanese culture considerably.
The rise of these new sects resulted in the complete
acceptance of Buddhism by the common people. The
various stages of this process are so clearly demarcated that
terms such as nationalization and popularization signify
epoch-making landmarks in the history of Japanese Bud­
dhism. For this reason, modern Japanese scholars are apt to
draw special attention to the Kamakura period in which
Buddhism was completely absorbed by Japan.
(iii) The period of continuation.—After the Kamakura
period, there was no significant development in Japanese
Buddhism other than the expansion of the various sects.
During the Edo period (1603— 1867 A.D.), Buddhism
acquired the character of a national-religion in Japan under
the protection of the Tokugawa Shogunate. The chief
reason for this development was that the Government hoped
thereby to undermine the influence of Christianity upon the
life of the Japanese people. In this period. Buddhism be­
came popular, so that towards the close of this era Buddhist
activities took the form of scholarly studies in Buddhism,
which laid the foundation of modern Buddhist studies.
Having lost its protector after the Meiji Restoration in
1868 A.D., Buddhism faced the risk of being deprived of
public support on account of the hostility of nationalistic
Shintoism. Fortunately, this risk was obviated by the efforts
of both monks and laymen. Furthermore, the Government
guaranteed freedom of religion under the Constitution. At
the same time, many monks who had investigated the
doctrines of Buddhism scientifically tried to find a ‘new’
meaning in the ‘old’ doctrines. It may also be noted that
some Buddhist missionaries went over to America, Hawaii,
and other countries to propagate Buddhism in the light of
modern studies in Buddhism.

Tibet (Central) and Ladakh

That the teachings of Buddhism, wherever they spread,

were able to arouse a new historical consciousness in the
people’s minds is nowhere seen so vividly as in Tibet. Just
as Indian history begins to be recorded in writing from the
days of the great Buddhist emperor, Asoka, Tibetan history,
too, begins to be written down from the reign of Tibet’s
most gifted ruler, Sron-btsan-sgam-po (born in 617 A.D.),
who first conceived the idea of reducing spoken Tibetan to
a system oi alphabetic writing to facilitate the coming of
Buddhism from India into his own country. Cultural con­
tacts of Tibet with the Buddhist world surrounding her,
namely, India, Khotan, Mongolia, China and Burma, must,
however, have been established at least two centuries before
him. According to a plausible Tibetan legend, for instance,
some Buddhist missionaries from India had approached the
Tibetan King, Tho-tho-ri, with presents of Buddhist books,
but had to return disappointed as none at the royal court
could make out what they meant, since alphabetic script
was unknown in Tibet! The precocious young prince,
Sron-btsan, suffering from a sense of isolation and inferio­
rity, must have felt keenly the urge to find all possible ways
of removing the backwardness of his people, because when
he came to the throne he resolutely increased his military
prestige to such an extent, that King AmSuvarman of Nepal
in the South, and later the powerful Chinese emperor, T ’ai-
tsung, in the North, thought it wise to seek an alliance with
him and respect his ardent wishes by giving their own royal
princesses to him in marriage. These two queens, Bhrukuti
of Nepal and Wen-Ch’eng of China, bringing with them
to Lhasa the images of Aksobhya, Maitreya and Sakyamuni
as gifts from their respective homes, greatly helped him
achieve his ambition to bring his people to the forefront
of civilization by introducing Buddhism into Tibet. In
fact, before he contracted these marriages the king had
taken steps to deserve such high matrimonial alliances. He
had selected a brilliant Tibetan of his court, Thon-mi Sam-
bho-ta, with sixteen other aspirants, to go down to the
famous seats of learning in southern India to study Indian
epigraphy, phonetics and grammar, and after having mas­
tered these subjects to invent an alphabetic script for the
Tibetan language, and establish its grammatical structure.
Thon-mi fulfilled the task entrusted to him so well that be­
sides composing eight independent treatises on Tibetan
writing and grammar, he also prepared the first Tibetan
translations of certain Sanskrit Buddhist works, so that he
came to be recognized for all time a& the father of Tibetan
literature. During his lifetime Sron-btsan promulgated
laws to harmonize with the Ten Virtues prescribed by
Buddhism. He built the famous temples of Ramoche and
Jokhang in Lhasa, and the grand architecture of the eleven-
storeyed palace, called the Potala, also preserves to this day
the remains of an original smaller structure, begun by him,
in one of its lower apartments. Buddhism with some of its
cultural advances and paraphernalia was thus brought to
Tibet to replace the old animistic and Phon religious beliefs.
The credit of ushering in a new Buddhistic era in the history
of Tibet thus goes to the first great monarch of Tibet. Sron-
btsan-sgam-po, who was a contemporary of Muhammad, the
founder of Islam, Emperor Harsa of Kanauj and the famous
pilgrim-scholar, Yuan Chwang of China.
Although Buddhism had come to Tibet under such
favourable auspices, it did not take root in a foreign soil as
easily or quickly as Sron-btsan might have wished. It had
to wage an incessant and arduous struggle for over three
centuries against indigenous Phon beliefs. It had also to
remove old superstitions, make compromises, adapt its own
doctrines to the strange customs and traditions which had
come down from time immemorial, and suffer setbacks and
banishment until the days of AtiSa1 in the eleventh century,
when at last Buddhism may be said to have truly become the
national religion of Tibet.
After Sron-btsan. the establishment of Buddhism as a
State religion occurred in the reign of his fifth successor,
Khri-sron-lde-btsan (755—797 A.D.), who, in spite of the
opposition of his powerful Phon officials, was able to invite
the learned Santaraksita of Nalanda University to Tibet, to
spread the genuine teachings of Indian Buddhism among
his people and introduce regular conversions. Santaraksita's
eloquent sermons on the doctrines of the Ten Virtues and
of the Chain of Causal Phenomena, however, fell upon deaf
ears. Certain natural calamities like storms and epidemics,
which raged at this juncture, were interpreted by his anta­
gonists as being the result of his perverse teachings, and
the King had to advise him to leave Tibet for some time to
escape the anger and prejudice of the masses. The Indian
teacher was wise enough to see that only a man well versed in
the esoteric methods and beliefs of Tantrism could
make some impression on the people, steeped as they seemed
1. Also w ritten A tlla.
 to be in primitive sorcery and charlatanism. Accordingly,
he recommended that Padmasambhava, the powerful apostle
of Tantrism, should be invited from Urgyan in the Swat
Valley to repay the oppositionists in their own coin, until he
could return to Tibet to complete his mission of re-estab­
lishing faith in the enlightened teachings of Buddhism; and
the great respect in which the Tibetans hold the memory
of Padmasambhava (otherwise called Guru Rinpoche by
them) to this day is a testimony of the success he attained
in this undertaking. Among other outstanding events of
the reign of Khri-srori-lde-btsan may be mentioned his vic­
tory over the Chinese armies, celebrated in a pillar inscrip­
tion in front of the Potala and the foundation of the first
great Tibetan monastery at Bsam-yas on the model of the
Udyantapuri in Bihar. Another was the preparation of the
first catalogue of the translated Buddhist works in the Ldan-
dkar palace and a reorganization of the translation activity
on sound lines by Santaraksita after his return to Tibet,
where he died towards the end of the eighth century A.D.
after long and distinguished missionary service. After the
death of Santaraksita, who always emphasized the constructive
aspect of the Buddhist teachings, the nihilistic traditions of
Buddhist philosophy propagated by some Chinese monks
seem to have gained the upper hand in Tibet, and to meet
their challenge the King invited Santaraksita’s able disciple
and commentator, Kamalasila from Nalanda, to deal with
them. A debate was held between the two parties in the
presence of the King, and Kamalasila was declared to have
won. The feelings among the defeated partisans of the
Chinese philosopher monk were, however, so embittered
that the Indian scholar was murdered. His body was em­
balmed and is still preserved in a monastery to the north of
Lhasa. King Khri-srori-lde-btsan, who for his prowess and
learning was regarded by his countrymen as an incarnation
of Manju&T, died broken-hearted soon afterwards, leaving the
heritage of a powerful Buddhist kingdom to his sensitive
and idealistic son, Mu-ne-btsan-po. The Buddhist teachings
 of mercy and equality had so touched the heart of this
imaginative prince that, as soon as he came to the throne,
he began to distribute wealth equally among his subjects.
His plan did not work satisfactorily because dignity of work
had not been given due importance, and inequalities inevi­
tably crept in again. After a brief period of unpopular
regime, his own relations poisoned him and set up his
brother, Khri-lde-srori-btsan, on the throne. He is known
to have given a fresh impetus to the work of translating
Indian works into Tibetan by patronizing the composition
and publication of the first Sanskrit-Tibetan dictionary
called the Mahavyutpatti (circa 814 A.D.).
Khri-lde-srori-btsan named his younger son, Ral-pa-chen
(816—838 A.D.), his own successor, in preference to his elder
son, Glari-dar-ma. Ral-pa-chen is remembered by his
countrymen as the third great royal protector of religion in
the golden age of Tibetan Buddhism. His devotion to
Buddhism was so extraordinary that he made his young son
take monastic vows, gave various kinds of privileges and
administrative authority to the priesthood and even allowed
his long locks of hair to be used as a mat by the Buddhist
abbots sitting around him to deliver religious sermons. Ral-
pa-chen extended the boundaries of his kingdom, and the
first history of Tibet came to be written under his patronage.
Monarchical rule in Tibet, as well as the prestige of
Buddhism, which had hitherto contributed so much to­
wards its prosperity, suffered a setback, when one day Ral-
pa-chen came to be murdered by the supporters of his
superseded elder brother, Glari-dar-ma. The latter then
came to the throne as a professed enemy of Buddhism in
Tibet. Buddhist images were buried, monasteries closed,
religious ceremonies banned and monks forced to return to
the life of laymen on pain of banishment from the country.
Such excesses created deep resentment everywhere, and retri­
bution came when one day a monk quietly rode up to the
king and killed him with a well-aimed dart (841 A.D.).
Glari-dar-ma’s ruthless suppression of Buddhism, which
 resulted in this violent outburst of public feeling, marks:
a decisive period in the annals of Tibetan politics,
inasmuch as it sounded the death knell of monarchical rule
in Tibet. The banished priesthood returned to central Tibet
and became more powerful than ever. The weak succes­
sors of Glan-dar-ma lost their hold on their dependencies
and disintegration set in. Finally, the son of the last king
of'Lhasa, Dpal-hkhor-btsan (906— 23 A.D.), took farewell of
the capital and migrated to western Tibet, where he estab­
lished himself as an independent ruler. He brought the
three districts of Ladakh, Spurang and Guge under his
control and later distributed them among his three sons.
Among the successors of these three royal branches, we
find several distinguished rulers, who kept the light of
Buddhism burning vigorously in western Tibet by patroniz­
ing learned monks, sending Tibetan scholars to Kashmir to
study the latest developments in Buddhist doctrine, and
furthering the translation of important Sanskrit Buddhist
texts into Tibetan. One of the most distinguished among
them was Hkhor-lde (also known as Jnanaprabha). He
renounced his throne in favour of his younger brother to
become a monk along with his two sons and played an
important part in persuading the great Acarya AtiSa (other­
wise called DTparikara Snjnana) of the Vikramasila monastery
in Bihar to come and live as a teacher of Buddhism
in Tibet. In the 11th century A.D., Atiia may be said
to have brought the last great spiritual impetus from
India, with the result that Buddhism struck deep roots in
Tibetan soil and thenceforward flourished as an indigenous
mode of religious and philosophical thought. The
successors of Tibetan kings continued to rule in western
Tibet, through various political vicissitudes which that
part of Tibet underwent, and the direct descendants of the
mighty Sron-btsan-sgam-po, the first historical ruler of Tibet
in Lhasa, still live in Ladakh.
The life and work of AtiSa in Tibet are too important
to be dealt with summarily and have therefore been dis*
cussed separately.1 From the time he came to Tibet,
Tibetan Buddhism developed into different indigenous
schools. In relation to these, the earlier heterogenous and
unreformed type of Buddhism came to be called Rnin-ma-
pa or the Old School with four main sub-sects. The
followers of this school worship Padmasambhava as their
founder and guru, believe in the fulfilment of both the divine
and the demoniacal, and are generally recognized as such
by their red caps. Ati£a’s reformed teachings, based upon
the Yogacara traditions founded by Maitreya and Asariga,
led to the establishment of the Bkah-gdams-pa school by
his Tibetan disciple, Hbrom-ston. It took a synthetic view
of the teachings of both the Hinayana and Mahayana, en­
forced celibacy upon the monks and discouraged magic
practices. It was on the authoritative basis of this doctrine
that the great Tibetan reformer, Tson-kha-pa, founded in
the 14th century A.D. the Dge-lugs-pa (originally called
Dgah-ldan-pa) sect, which purified the Bkah-gdams-pa of
much of its elaborate ritualism and today dominates
Tibetan Buddhism, both temporally and spiritually, through
the religious succession of the Dalai Lamas, of whom the
fourteenth is now the head of this theocracy.
Two other schools, closely allied with the Bkah-gdams-
pa but with a less ascetic outlook came to be founded in the
latter half of the 11th century A.D., namely Bkah-rgyud-pa
and Sa-skya-pa.
The Bkah-rgyud-pa (Oral Traditionalism) was found­
ed by the Tibetan Lama Mar-pa, a friend of Atisa and a
disciple of the Indian Tantrist, Naropa, of Nalanda Univer­
sity. It has some affinities with the Dhyana school, to
which most of the Northern Buddhists of Japan and China
belong at present, and among its distinguished representa­
tives is Mi-la-ras-pa, the great hermit poet of Tibet, who
was initiated in the mysteries of supernatural powers by
Mar-pa himself. The Bkah-rgyud-pa later divided itself
into several sub-sects, two of which, namely, Karma-pa and
1, See Chapter IX .
 Hbrug-pa, may be specially mentioned. The third Head of
the Karma-pa called Rari-byuri-rdo-rje was recognized at
his birth as the spiritual successor of the second Head of the
sect. called Karma-bak-si, who had died two years earlier.
Since this incident the practice of spiritual succession came
into vogue. Thus, in the selection of the Dalai Lama, the
Panchan Lama and others, a recognized incarnation succeeds
to the office instead of a hereditary successor or disciple. The
Karma-pa is particularly strong in Sikkim and its followers
in Nepal are called the Karmika. The second sub-sect.
Hbrug-pa (or the Thunderer), spread its doctrines so vigorous­
ly in Bhutan that the country adopted its Tibetan name for
its own people.
The second school, Sa-skya-pa, derives its name “Grey
Earth” from the colour of the soil where its first monastery
was built in 1071 A.D. on the site of the present Sa-skya. The
Sa-skya-pa was even more closely related with’ the old
Rniri-ma-pa school than the Bkah-rgyud-pa and the monks
of this sect were not celibate either. They sought a synthesis
between the old and the new Tantrism on the basis of
Nagarjuna’s Madhyamika philosophy and had already deve­
loped into a powerful hierarchy before the rise of the great
Tsori-kha-pa.
Greatly devoted to learning, they proved themselves
excellent proselytizers when they came into contact with the
Mongol emperors in the 13th century A.D. One of the dis­
tinguished Sa-skya hierarchs, called Hphags-pa, became the
spiritual teachcr of Prince Khubilai of Mongolia, who, on
coming to the throne as the first Mongol emperor of China,
conferred the sovereignty of central Tibet upon the High
Priest of Sa-skya (1270 A.D.). This was the beginning of
a new era of theocratic rule in Tibet. The Sa-skya-pa pro­
duced many eminent Tibetan scholars, among whom the
famous Bu-ston (1290— 1364 A.D.) ranks high. He was
not only a renowned commentator of fundamental Bud­
dhist treatises and an authoritative historian, but also the
first collector of all the existing Tibetan translations of
 Buddhist works. He arranged them systematically into two
comprehensive groups, called the Bkah-hgyur (the Word of
the Buddha) in 100 volumes, and the Bstan-hgyur (the
Treatises) in 225 volumes. These have come down to us as
the Tibetan Buddhist Canon. Taranatha, the Tibetan his­
torian a'nd author (born in 1573 A.D.), also belonged to
a sect called Jo-nang, which was an offshoot of the Sa-skya-
pa. With the rise of the great reformer, Tsori-kha-pa, born
in the province of Amdo in 1358 A.D., the modern age of
Tibetan Buddhism may be said to have begun. With striking
powers of organization and comprehensive intelligence, he
set himself the task of removing all deviations and super­
stitious beliefs and establishing a strong order of Buddhist
monks, based on sound learning, discipline and celibacy,
which came to be recognized as the Dge-lugs-pa (the ‘School
of the Virtuous’, popularly described as the Yellow Hats).
In 1408 he founded, not far from Lhasa, the Ganden
monastery, where he worked for some years and died in 1419
A.D. The other two great monasteries. Depung and Sera,
near Lhasa, and Tashi-lhumpo, in the Tsang province, share
between them the highest religious power and prestige. They
were all founded by his disciples within the next fifty
years. These centres of learning continued the work of
religious propagation in Mongolia and Siberia so ably and
enthusiastically that after the power of the pioneering Sa-
skya-pas had dwindled through internal feuds and rivalries,
the Dge-lugs-pas came to be favoured by the powerful Mongol
chieftains as spiritual leaders and later as temporal rulers of
Tibet, When he met their third hierarch, Bsod-nams-rgya-
mtso <1546— 1587 A.D.), the ruler of Thumed Mongolia,
Altan Khan, became convinced that both of them were res­
pectively the teacher Hphags-pa and his disciple, the great
emperor Khubilai Khan, in their former births and im­
mediately recognized the former as the veritable T ali (i.e.,
Dalai, Tib. rgya-mtso) meaning ‘the ocean’. Thenceforth,
all the hierarchs came to be recognized as Dalai Lamas.
The most distinguished of them was the Great Fifth Dalai
Lama (1615— 1680 A.D.), upon whom the sovereignty of the
whole country was conferred by the Mongolian chief, Gusri
Khan, who finally wiped out all opposition from Tsang and
the other provinces of Tibet. After the preceding period
of about seventy years, during which the High Priests of
Sa-skya reigned as kings over a small part of the country,
the recognition of the full and divine sovereignty of the
Dalai Lama over the whole of Tibet must be considered as
a turning point in Tibetan history. Sanskrit books on gram­
mar, medicine, and other subjects continued to be trans­
lated into Tibetan under the rule of this able and widely
travelled Dalai Lama. His chief Minister, Saris-rgyas-rgya-
mtso, succeeded in keeping his death a secret for several
years in the interests of public welfare, and conducted the
affairs of the state in his name so efficiently that he is re­
membered as one of the wisest statesmen Tibet has ever pro­
duced. The Seventh Dalai Lama (1708— 1758 A.D.) was
known for his deep learning, tolerance and asceticism. His
reign was marked by the visits of Capuchin and Jesuit mission­
aries to Lhasa, but religious and cultural relations with
India seem at this period to have fallen into oblivion,
mainly because of foreign domination and the consequent
disappearance of the old order in India itself. Hereafter
follows in Tibetan history a period of isolation and politi­
cal intrigue and of short-lived Dalai Lamas until we come
down to the present age of Asian reawakening, of Indian
independence and of a revaluation of the ancient ideals of
Buddhism, which have nourished the life instincts of Tibet
throughout her chequered career of over thirteen centuries.

Nepal
As the home of Sakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism,
Nepal occupies a unique position among the Buddhist
countries of the world. Gautama, the son of a Sakya- prince,
was born (544 B.C.) at LumbinT, about 15 miles from his
father’s residence in the Nepalese city of Kapilavastu. Early
in life, he left his father’s kingdom in search of Truth. After
he had attained enlightenment at Bodh Gaya, he delivered
his first sermon at Sarnath, and subsequently returned home
to declare his revelation to his own kinsmen, among whom
his son Rahula became one of his earliest converts. In this
brief reference to Nepal, it may be mentioned that in the
3rd century B.C. ASoka, while yet a prince, is reported to
have successfully quelled a rebellion among one of the
races of Nepal and restored peace and order. His later
visit to Lumbini and the erection of an inscribed pillar to
commemorate the sacred birth-place of the Buddha is an
important landmark in the history of Buddhism. Thereafter,
his daughter, Carumati. is said to have married a Nepalese
nobleman, and built several stupas and monasteries in
Nepal, of which there are still remnants. In the early
centuries of the Christian era, the disciplinary rules appli­
cable to the monks in the Mula-sarvastivada school of
Buddhism in Nepal reveal certain special concessions in
view of the rigid climatic conditions of that region, which
is indicative of the wide prevalence of Buddhist monastic
life in this country. The great Buddhist philosopher of the
4th century A.D., Acarya Vasubandhu, is also said to have
visited Nepal in order to propagate his own doctrine.
Nepal seems to have attained real prominence as a strong
supporter and propagator of the Buddhist faith from the
days of King AmSuvarman in the 7th century A.D. He gave
his daughter in marriage to the first powerful king of Tibet,
Srori-btsam-sgam-po, and among the batch of pioneers who
undertook to translate Sanskrit Buddhist works into Tibe­
tan under the latter’s patronage, the name of a Nepalese
pandita, SQamafiju, is mentioned. In the age o£ Santarak­
sita (8th and 9th centuries A.D.) strong ties, of religious and
cultural friendship appear to have developed between these
two countries. In the succeeding centuries, when Muslim
invasions of Bihar and Bengal resulted in the wholesale
devastation of the rich Buddhist monasteries of those
regions, Buddhist monks found a safe refuge in Nepal.
They took with them a large number of valuable manus-
cripts, some of which also found their way to the monas­
teries in Tibet, where they are carefully preserved to this
day. In the intervening centuries, Nepal probably developed
still closer cultural and even political ties with the western
parts of Tibet, but this period of history has not yet been
sufficiently explored. For centuries Nepal has served as a
cultural link between the regions, lying on both sides of
the mid-Himalayan range, and until recently the normal
road of communication between India and Tibet led
through Nepal, via Kyirong.
After Buddhism had dwindled in India, the popular
form of Nepalese Buddhism gradually shed some of its
original characteristics, such as monastic life, opposition to
caste distinctions, and discouragement of all religious
mysteries, thus becoming effete as a distinct spiritual force.
Until recently, four main sects of Buddhist philosophy, each
with several sub-sects, have been prominent, namely, (1)
Svabhavika, which emphasizes the fact that all things in
the world have their own ultimate characteristic which is
expressed in two ways, i.e., pravrtti (evolution) and nivrtti
(involution); (2) AiSvarika, which puts its faith in a self-
existent God, who is perfect and infinite; (3) Karmika, which
believes in a conscious moral effort through which the
world-phenomenon is developed on the fundamental basis
of avidya; and (4) Yatrika, which believes in the existence
of conscious intellectual agency and free will. This repre­
sents an almost complete fusion of various philosophical
trends which originated in India and Tibet under the in­
fluence of both Hinduism and Buddhism.1
Thus Nepal, lying under the shadow of some of the tallest
peaks of the Himalayas, claims to be a source of great spiri­
tual inspiration and has prized freedom and tolerance above
everything.
1. Of late, a revival of Buddhist studies of the Theravada school has taken
place in Nepal and under the auspices of the D harraodaya Sabha, B uddhist
monks from Ceylon, or Nepalese monks trained in Ceylon, have taken an
active lead in the propagation of their faith. They have published in th e
local dialect translations of several popular sfitras from Pali literature.
 C. In Southern Countries
Ceylon
According to the tradition preserved in the Ceylonese
Chronicles, the great emperor Asoka (c. 273—236 B.C.)1
organized a network of missions to preach the gospel of the
Buddha in and outside India. He sent his son (or brother)
Thera Mahendra, together with four others, to Lanka or
Ceylon, and they preached the teachings of Gautama
Buddha to king Devanampiyatissa (247—207 B.C.) and his
attendants. The king and the people of Ceylon were deep­
ly impressed by the new gospel and accepted Buddhism. Its
progress was phenomenal. Hundreds of thousands of men
and women embraced the new faith and thousands entered
the Sangha and adopted the life of bhiksus. Monasteries
were erected on all sides and rich endowments were made
for their upkeep. Queen Anula and a number of women
also expressed the desire to receive the pabbajja ordination
and enter the Sangha. But as no monk was allowed to do
this for them, emissaries were sent to Emperor Asoka to send
some distinguished nuns to help them. So Sanghamitra, the
sister of Mahendra, who had received ordination, was sent
to Ceylon.
Two great events in the early history of Buddhism in
Ceylon left a deep impression and still evoke pious enthusiasm
among millions of its votaries. The transplantation of a
branch of the Bodhi tree under which Gautama attained
Buddhahood was a happy idea of ASoka. This served as an
inspiration to the people who had recently embraced the
Buddhist religion. The second event was the bringing of
the Buddha’s tooth from India more than 500 years later.
Thus, within a short time, the whole of the island of
Ceylon became a stronghold of Buddhism, a position which
1. There is no unanim ity among scholars regarding the dates of the
various kings mentioned in this section. The dates given are taken from
the History and Culture of the Indian People, Vol. I I —IV (Bombay)*
where the different views are discussed, and reasons given for adopting a
particular date.
 she still retains after the lapse of more than two thousand
years.
The Great Stupa was built during the reign of Duttha-
gamani <101—77 B.C.) and consecrated before a large
assembly of Buddhist monks who had come from well-known
monasteries in India. The list of names, with other details, is
.given in the Mahavaipsa.
The reign of Vaftagamani <c. 29— 17 B.C.) is an important
landmark in the history of Buddhism in Ceylon. Up to this
time the sacred scriptures of Buddhism, as originally recited
by Mahendra, were committed to memory and preserved as
oral traditions. Arrangements were now made to commit
them to writing, and five hundred reciters and scribes were
employed for the purpose. The Pali Tripitaka, which was the
result of their labour, still survives as the sacred canon of
which the original disappeared long ago from India without
leaving any trace.
It is impossible to overrate the influence exercised by
Buddhism in Ceylon. Practically her whole culture and
civilization were derived from it. Pali became the literary
language of Ceylon and still holds that position. Ceylonese
literature was an offshoot of Indian literature, and the art
of Ceylon—architecture, sculpture and painting—was derived
from India. The Ceylonese alphabet also came from India.
On the other hand, the Buddhist world owes a great debt
to Ceylon. As mentioned above, the Pali Canon has been
preserved in its entirety in this island and Ceylonese
Buddhism had great influence upon Burma, Cambodia, Siam
and Laos, the only other countries where Theravada Buddhism
flourishes today. Ceylon was not, however, merely a passive
recipient; it contributed to the development of Buddhism
through its Commentaries.1

Burma
According to the tradition preserved in the Ceylonese
Chronicles, two Buddhist monks, named Sona and Uttara,
1. See Chapter IX .
were sent by Emperor Asoka to preach Buddhism in Suvarna-
bhumi, which is generally identified with Burma. There is,
however, no reliable evidence to show that Sona and Uttara
were actually sent as missionaries by Asoka, and the location
of Suvarna-bhumi is also not beyond dispute. For, while
some identify it with Burma, others place it in Siam or take
it to denote, broadly, the whole of Indo-China.
Barring the story of Uttara and Sona there is no other
evidence that Buddhism flourished in Burma before the
fifth century A.D. Considering the close proximity of Burma
to India, and the existence of not too difficult land routes
between the two even before the Christian era, the possi­
bility is not altogether excluded that Buddhism found its
way to Burma even before, perhaps long before, the fifth
century A.D. But from this period onwards there are
definite records to prove not only the existence but also the
flourishing state of Theravada Buddhism in the old kingdom
of the Pyus known as Sriksetra with its capital near Prome,
the ruins of which lie in modern Hmawza.
The archaeological remains at Hmawza, about five
miles from modern Prome, and the Chinese accounts leave
no doubt that the Theravada form of Buddhism with Pali
canonical texts was introduced in the region round Prome
not later than the fifth century A.D. by Indian missionaries
who came from the eastern coast of the Deccan and South
India. But side by side we also find traces of MQla-
sarvastivada and Mahayanism which probably came from
eastern India.
There are good grounds for supposing that the Theravada
form of Buddhism also flourished among the Hinduized
Mons or Takings settled in Pegu (HaipsavatS, Thaton
(Sudhammavatf) and other neighbouring regions collectively
known as Ramaiina-desa. Some time before the eleventh
century A.D. Thaton became a very important centre of this
religion. Earlier still, the Mrammas, a Tibeto-Dravidian
tribe, had established a powerful kingdom with its capital at
Pagan and given their name to the whole country. The
 Mrammas were a rude, unlettered people, and a debased
form of Tantric Buddhism flourished among them. In 1044
A.D. a new king, Anawratha (Aniruddha), ascended the
throne of Pagan and was converted to the pure Theravada
form b y a Talaing monk of Thaton named Arhan, also
known as Dharma-darSi. The new king, with the help of
Arhan and a few other monks from Thaton, led a crusade
against the debased religion and established Theravada on a
firm footing. There was, however, great need of canonical
texts. Aniruddha sent messengers to Manuha, the king of
Thaton, asking for complete copies of the Tripitaka. Manuha
having refused, Aniruddha marched with his army and
captured Thaton. He returned in triumph and brought back
with him not only king Manuha captive, but all the monks,
and the Buddhist scriptures and relics which were carried by
thirty-two elephants. Never was a victor more completely
captivated by the culture of the vanquished. The Burmese
of Pagan adopted the religion, language, literature and script
of the Mons. Aniruddha and his successors became the great
champions of the Theravada form of Buddhism, and along
with their political authority it extended over the whole of
Burma. The Brahmanical religion that had prevailed there
gradually yielded to Buddhism, which even now flourishes
over the whole country without any rival.
With the zeal of a new convert Aniruddha built numerous
pagodas or temples and monasteries, and his example was
followed by his successors. He also brought complete copies
of the Tripitaka from Ceylon and Arhan, collated these
with the texts from Thaton. Aniruddha’s son, Kyanzittha,
followed in the footsteps of his father and built the famous
Ananda temple at Pagan.
An important episode in the history of Buddhism in
Burma was the establishment in 1181-82 A.D. of a Simhalese
order of monks founded by Capata who received his ordina­
tion in Ceylon. The Ceylonese monks did not consider
those of Burma as validly ordained and this feeling was
shared by Capata and his followers. The rivalry between
the Simhala Sangha and the Mramma Sangha continued for
three centuries and ended in the final triumph of the former.

The Malay Peninsula

A large number of inscriptions discovered in different
parts of the Malay Peninsula are written in Sanskrit and
in the Indian alphabets of the fourth or fifth century A.D.
At least three of these definitely refer to the Buddhist creed
and thus prove the spread of Buddhism in that region. But
the most important of all the remains are found at Nakhon
Sri Tammarat (Ligor). It was an essentially Buddhist colony
that constructed the great stupa, which is still to be found
there. Part of the fifty temples which surround the stupa
also probably belong to a very early period.
Mahayana Buddhism flourished in this region in the
sixth century A.D., if not earlier. This is proved by an in­
scribed clay tablet found near Keddah which may be assigned
to the sixth century A.D. on palaeographical grounds.
It contains three Sanskrit verses embodying some philosophi­
cal doctrines of the Mahayana school. Two of these three
verses have been traced in the Chinese translations of a num­
ber of texts of the Madhyamika school, and all the three are
found together in a Chinese translation of the Sagaramati-
pariprccha1 (Nanjio 976).
Mahayana Buddhism continued to flourish in this region
till the 8th century A.D., possibly much later. An inscription
found at Ligor refers to the construction of three brick
temples for Buddhist gods and of five stupas by the king and
priests. The stupas were built in the Saka year 697 which
is equivalent to 775 A.D.

Siam (Thailand)
Buddhism flourished in Siam, now called Thailand, from
a very early period, about the first or second century A.D.
if not earlier. This is proved by archaeological finds at Pong
T uk and Phra Pathom. Phra Pathom is about 30 miles
1. JGIS, Vol. VIII, p. 2.
west of Bangkok, and Pong Tuk lies about 20 miles farther
to the west. Remains of a religious structure, the images of
the Buddha, inscribed terra cottas and definite symbols of
Buddhism like the dharmacakra, belonging probably to the
first or second century A.D., have been found in these places.
To a somewhat later period belong the large number of
ruined sanctuaries and some fine sculptures which indicate
the strong influence of the Gupta period. These have been
referred to the Dvaravati school. Dvaravati was a flourish­
ing kingdom at the time of Yuan Chwang, i.e.. in the first
half of the seventh century A.D.
About the eighth or ninth century A.D., both Siam and
Laos formed part of Kambuja (Cambodia) politically and
were influenced by the religious condition of that country.
So both the Brahmanical religion and Buddhism can be found
flourishing side by side in all these regions. About the
middle of the thirteenth century A.D., the Thais made them­
selves masters of Siam and Laos and put an end to the politi­
cal supremacy of the Cambodians over them. Under the
influence of the Thai rulers, Buddhism of the Theravada
school and the Pali language flourished all over Siam and
Laos. The Thai king, Sri SuryavamSa Rama Maha-
Dharmikarajadhiraja was not only a great patron of Bud­
dhism, but himself adopted the life of a Buddhist monk,
preaching the doctrines of the Buddha all over his kingdom.
About 1361 A.D., he sent some learned bhikkhus and
scholars to Ceylon and induced the great monk called
Mahasami Sangharaja to come to Siam. Under his inspira­
tion and the active efforts of the king, Buddhism and P^li
literature not only obtained a firm footing, but also spread
to a number of small Hinduized states in the territory now
called Laos, such as AJavira${ra. Khmerrastra, Suvarna-
grama, Unmarga-sila, Yonakarastra, and Haripuiijaya.
Many of these still possess their local chronicles written in
Pali. From this time onwards, Buddhism flourished in Siam
and the neighbouring regions, and Brahmanism declined until
it almost disappeared, leaving only a few traces in public
ceremonies and customs1.

Kambuja (Cambodia)
The archxological finds and the Chinese Chronicles
prove that from the end of the fifth century A.D. Buddhism
flourished in Cambodia, though it did not occupy a domi­
nant position, as it was less popular than some forms of
Brahmanical religion like ^aivism. The great emperor,
YaSovarman, who ruled at the end of the ninth century
A.D., established a SaugataSrama which was specially meant
for the Buddhist monks, and elaborate regulations were laid
down for the guidance of this a£rama or hermitage.
King Jayavarman VII (1181— circa 1220 A.D.) was a
devout Buddhist and received the posthumous title, Maha-
parama-saugata. The records of his reign express beautifully
the typical Buddhist view of life, particularly the feelings of
charity and compassion towards the whole universe. His
role in the founding of religious institutions was magni­
ficent.*
A Sanskrit inscription of Jayavarman VII gives us
interesting information about the religious mood of his
queen. It is said that when Jayavarman first went to
1. I t is interesting to note here th a t although Siam was deeply infiuenoed
by Ceylon in respect of its religion, it repaid its debt in some measure when,
about 1750 A .D ., the king of Ceylon sent a messenger to the king of Siam
and the latter sent golden and silver images of the Buddha, copies of sacred
texts and a num ber of monks. I t is clear th a t a t th a t time Ceylon recognized
Siam to be a oountry where Buddhi im prevailed in a much purer form.
2. The account of royal donations contained in the Ta Prohm Ins­
cription of Jayavarm an V II makes interesting reading and reveals the mag­
nitude of the resources and depth of religious sentiments of the king. I t
concerns the Rftjavih&ra, i.e., the temple of Ta Prohm and its adjuncts where
th e king set up an image of his mother as Prajfi&~p&ramit&. I t is not possible
here to record all the details, b u t a few facts may be noted. Altogether
66,625 people were employed in the service of the deities of the tem ple an d
3,400 villages were given for defraying its expenses. There were 439 pro­
fessors and 970 scholars studying under them , making a total of 1,409 whose
food and other daily necessities of life were supplied. There were altogether
566 groups of stone and 288 groups of brick houses. Needless to say, th e
Other articles, of which a m inute list is given, were in the same pro p o rtio n
[Continued on next page
 Campa, his wife, Jayarajadevi, showed her conjugal fidelity
by undergoing austerities of diverse types and of long
duration. She was then initiated to Buddhism by her elder
sister. It is said that she performed a ceremony by which
she could see before her the image of her absent husband.
When her husband returned, she increased her pious and
charitable works. These included a dramatic performance,
the plot of which was drawn from the Jatakas and which was
acted by a body of nuns recruited from among castaway
giris.1
Buddhism continued to flourish in Kambuja in the
thirteenth century A.D. It must be remembered, however,
that up to this time, although Buddhism was in a flourish­
ing condition, it was neither the State religion, nor even the
dominant religious sect in the country. There is no definite
information as to when Buddhism attained this position.
But the change was undoubtedly due to the influence of the
Thais of Siam, who, as already mentioned, were ardent
Buddhists, and had conquered a large part of Cambodia.
Whereas, in the earlier period, Siam was influenced by
Cambodia, the role was now reversed, and Cambodia, under
the influence of the Thais, was converted, almost whole­
sale, to Buddhism. Even the Brahmanical gods in the great
sanctuaries like Angkor Vat were replaced by Buddhist
images. We cannot trace the exact stages of this conversion,
but, gradually Buddhism became the dominant creed in
Kambuja and today there is hardly any trace of Brahmanical
religion in the country, except in some of the ceremonies
and festivities of the people of Kambuja.
and they included huge quantities of gold and silver, 3.5 diam ond^ 40,620
pearls and 4,540 other precious stones. AU these relate to a single group
of temples. And the inscription informs us th a t there were 798 temples
and 102 hospitals in the whole kingdom, and these were given every year
117,200 kharikds of rice, each khdrikd being equivalent to 3 maunds 8 seers.
In conclusion, the king expresses the hope th a t by his pious donations, his
m other m ight be delivered from the ocean of births (bhavdbdhi). For th e
te x t of this inscription containing 145 Sanskrit verses, see Kambuja Inscriptions
by R . 0 . Majumdar (published by The Asiatic Society, Calcutta), pp. 460 ff.
1. Kambuia Inscription*,]?. 517.
 Campa (Viet-Nam)
The southern part of the territory lying on the eastern
coast of the Indo-Chinese peninsula, called Annam, now
Viet-Nam, was formerly known as Campa, a name evidently
given to it by its Hindu colonists. That Buddhism had
obtained a footing in the country before the third century
A.D. may be inferred from the discovery of a fine bronze
Buddha image of the Amaravati school which may be dated
about that period. We learn from a Chinese chronicle that
when the Chinese captured the capital city of Campa in
605 A.D., they carried away 1,350 Buddhist works. From
this important statement, it can be inferred that Buddhism
must have flourished in the country for a considerable period
before the seventh century A.D. I-tsing remarks that in
Campa the Buddhists generally belong to the Aryasammitiya
school, and that there are a few followers of the Sarvastivada
school also. This would mean the prevalence of the
Sravakayana sect, but it appears from inscriptions of the
eighth century A.D. or thereabouts, that the Mahayana sect
of Buddhism was powerful in Campa, and possibly even the
Tantric forms, later offshoots of the Mahayana, also
prevailed there. Occasionally, Buddhism enjoyed the
patronage of kings and high officials and we have the ruins
of a great Buddhist establishment at a place called Dong
Duong, including a temple and a monastery built by King
Jaya Indravarman in 875 A.D.
Buddhism of the Mahayana form continued as a living
force in Campa right up to the fifteenth century A.D., when
the country was overrun by the Annamites from the North.
The Annamites formerly lived in Tonkin and derived their
culture from China. So the Chinese form of Buddhism,
along with Islam, replaced the old religion in Campa.

Indonesia
Buddhism had very little hold on the people of the-
island of Java at the beginning of the 5th century A.D.
Fa-hien, who visited this island (c. 414 A.D.), observes
that while other forms of religion, particularly Brahmanism,
flourished in this island, “Buddhism in it is not worth men­
tioning”. But, thanks to the missionary zeal of Guna-
varman (an Indian monk)1, Buddhism was not only intro­
duced but obtained a stronghold on the island in less than
a quarter of a century after Fa-hien’s visit.
Buddhism was also introduced early in the island of
Sumatra, particularly in the kingdom of Sri-vijaya, which is
usually identified with Palembang. It appears from some
inscriptions found in this region that the king who ruled
Sri-vijaya in the years 683—684 A.D. was a Buddhist. The
famous Chinese traveller, I-tsing, who visited India in the
last,quarter of the seventh century A.D., says that the king
of Sri-vijaya, as well as the rulers of neighbouring states,
favoured Buddhism, and that Sri-vijaya was a very important
centre of Buddhist learning in the islands of southern Asia.
The Buddhist priests in Sri-vijaya numbered more than a
thousand and they studied all the subjects as in Madhyadefo
(India). I-tsing spent some time in Sri-vijaya in order to
study Buddhist scriptures and he has left a very interesting
account of the popularity of Buddhism in the islands of the
Southern Sea, consisting of more than ten countries. He
gives a list of these ten countries and states that “Buddhism
is embraced in all these and other smaller islands, and most­
ly, the system of the Hinayana is adopted except in Malayu
(Sri-vijaya) where there are a few who belong to the
Mahayana”.
The importance of Indonesia as a great centre of
Buddhism from the seventh till the eleventh century A.D. is

1. Gunavarman belonged to a royal family of India and, taking to the

religious life of a Buddhist monk, he visited the island of Java. At first
th e Queen Mother was converted to Buddhism and, gradually, the king and
th e people adopted the religion. I t is said th a t on one occasion Jav a was
-attacked by a hostile king and the king asked Gunavarman whether it would
be against Buddhist law if he offered battle. Gunavarman told the king
th a t it was his d u ty to fight the enemy. The king now wished to take to th e
life of a monk, but was dissuaded by his ministers. The result was th a t
th e Buddhist religion spread throughout the kingdom.
also proved by other facts. Dharmapala, a famous professor
of Nalanda University, visited Suvarna-dvipa, which was a
general designation of Indonesia, in the seventh century A.D.
The famous monk and scholar AtiSa Diparikara (11th
century A.D.), who became the head of Vikramasila
University and inaugurated the second period of Buddhism
in Tibet, went in his early life to Suvarna-dvipa in order to
study Buddhism under the guidance of its High Priest,
Candrakirti. A strong impetus to the Mahayana was given
by the Sailendra dynasty, who ruled over the, Malay Penin­
sula and a large part of Indonesia. The Sailendra kings
were great patrons of this form of Buddhism and erected
monumental structures like Borobudur, Kalasan and
Mendut in Java. It appears from epigraphic records that
one of the Sailendra kings had a guru (preceptor) from the
Gauda country (Bengal). There is hardly any doubt that
the Pala kings of Bengal and the Cola rulers of the South
exercised great influence upon Ja v a , in religious matters
during the Sailendra period. The Sailendra kings estab­
lished monasteries at Nalanda and Nagapattinam and the
Pala and the Coja emperors granted villages for their main­
tenance. Under the influence of the Sailendras, Mahayan-
ism flourished in Java and Sumatra for a long period. But
the influence of Bengal seems also to have been responsible
for the introduction of the debased Tantric forms of Bud­
dhism both in Java and Sumatra. We have a fairly de­
tailed account of some later kings of both these countries
who were followers of these cults. We have also two
important Mahayana texts, viz., the Sang hyang Kama-
hayanan Mantranaya and the Sang hyang Kamahayanikan
1, The first work consists of Sanskrit verses with a Javanese translation,
while the second consists of a somewhat free Javanese version of a Sanskrit
original mixed with a num ber of original Sanskrit verses. The second text
gives a detailed exposition of the sacred principles of Mahayana, b ut the
first gives the picture of a more popular but degraded form of Mah&y&na.
Its title Mantranaya is probably another form of M antrayana. In any case,
it is really an exposition of the T antrayana or Vajrayana, both in its theoretical
[Continued on next page
which give us a fair insight into the leading conceptions of
Mahayanism in Java.
Besides Sumatra and Java, we have positive evidence of
the introduction of Buddhism in the other islands of
Malayasia, particularly Bali and Borneo. The Brahmanical
religion, however, dominated and Buddhism gradually dis­
appeared in these regions.
and practical aspects, and explicitly refers to the five kinds of sensual enjoy­
m ent (kam a-paneakan) which no doubt refer to panca-m akara. There
exists a fairly detailed account of King K rtanagara of Java (1254— 1292 A.D.)
who was passionately devoted to this degraded form of Buddhism.
 CHAPTER VI

Principal Schools and Sects o f Buddhism

A. I n I n d i a
It appears that even during the lifetime of the Buddha
there were people who would not accept his authority. His
cousin, Devadatta, out of jealousy for the Buddha conspired
with King Ajatasatru and made several attempts on his life.
He also tried to create divisions in the Buddhist Sangha by
demanding stricter conditions of life for Buddhist monks,
such as living throughout the year under trees, foregoing
meat and fish, and refusing all invitations from faithful ad­
herents. There were also monks like Upananda, Channa.
Mettiya-Bhummajaka, or Sadvargiya (Pali: Chabbaggiya*
who would take the earliest opportunity of transgressing the
rules of the Vinaya. Besides, there is a perverse tendency
among some people to oppose a rule simply because a rule
has been laid down. Some like to live a life of ease and
comfort and consequently all restrictions on individual free­
dom are looked at askance. For example, Subhadra. on
hearing of the death of the Buddha, gave a sigh of relief say­
ing that he would now no longer have to abide by “do this,
do not do that”.
When the Buddha died, he left no one to take his place
as the supreme authority. In fact he told his personal
attendant, Ananda, that the Dharma and the Vinaya would
be the supreme authority in the future. All statements
claimed to have been made by learned monks or the Sangha
or even the Buddha himself have to be tested by direct refer­
ence to the words of the Buddha recorded in the suttas and
the Vinaya.
 When the first recital (sariglti) of the Buddhist texts was
made under the presidency of Mahakasyapa at Rajagrha by
five hundred monks, there were some, like Purana. or. ac­
cording to Tibetan sources, Gavampati. who did not approve
them as they felt that what was recorded there was not in
agreement with what they had heard from the Buddha him­
self. Common interests arising from personal attachment to
certain persons or groups of persons, or created by various
causes, such as associations, studies, geographical regions, as
well as honest differences of opinion that gathered strength in
the course of time, probably led to the formation of different
sects or schools.
The Buddha's sayings and their commentaries were
handed down orally from teachers to disciples. Unlike the
Vedic texts, however, not enough care was taken for the pre­
servation of the actual words of the Teacher, not to speak
of their interpretations. In the Mahaparinibbana-sutta. the
Teacher apprehended that his sayings might suffer distortion,
and so, as noted above, he cautioned his disciples about the
four ways in which his instructions were to be verified. A
century is a long time, and about a hundred years after his
passing, differences arose among the monks about the actual
words of the Teacher and their interpretations. Once the
monks took the liberty of bringing dissensions to the
Sangha, they went on multiplying till the number of sects
reached the figure of eighteen in the second and third centu­
ries after the Buddha's death. The first dissension was creat­
ed by the Vajjian monks of Vaisali. It is stated in the
Vinaya (Cullavagga) and in the Ceylonese Chronicles that
the Second Council was held at Vaisali a century after the
Buddha’s parinirvana to discuss the breach of the ten rules
of discipline (dasa vatthuni) by the Vajjian monks.1
In the Tibetan and Chinese translations of Vasumitra
and others quite a different account appears. Here the
Council is said to have been convened on account of the
differences of opinion among the monks regarding the five
1. See Chapter IV , pp. 41-42.
dogmas propounded by Mahadeva.
Mahadeva was the son of a brahmana of Mathura and
was ‘a man of great learning and wisdom’. He received his
ordination at Kukkutarama in Pataliputra and then became
the head of the Sangha which was patronized by the king.
His five dogmas were:
(i) An Arhat may commit a sin by unconscious
temptation.
(ii) One may be an Arhat and not know it.
(iii) An Arhat may have doubts on matters of doctrine
<iv) One cannot attain Arhatship without a teacher.
<v> ‘The noble ways’ may begin by a shout, that is,
one meditating seriously on religion may make
such an exclamation as ‘How sad! How sad!’
and by so doing attain progress towards perfec­
tion1—the path is attained by an exclamation of
astonishment.
Traditions differ as to why the Second Council was called.
All the accounts, however, record unanimously that a schism
did take place about a century after the Buddha’s pari­
nirvana because of the efforts made by some monks for the
relaxation of the stringent rules observed by the orthodox
monks. The monks who deviated from the rules were later
called the Mahasanghikas, while the orthodox monks were
distinguished as the Theravadins (Sthaviravadins). It was
rather ‘a division between the conservative and the liberal,
the hierarchic and the democratic’. There is no room for
doubt that the Council marked the evolution of new schools
of thought.
The decision of the Council was in favour of the orthodox
monks. The Vajjians refused to obey the decision of the
majority and were expelled from the Sangha. In conse­
quence, the Council came to an abrupt close, and the long-
feared schism came into being, threatening the solidarity of
the Sangha. The monks who could not subscribe to the
I. C/. K athn-vatthu, I I , 1-4 and X I, 4.
orthodox views convened another Council, in which ten
thousand monks participated. Indeed, it was a great con­
gregation of monks (Mahasanglti), for which they were
called the Mahasanghikas, as distinguished from the ortho­
dox monks, the Theravadins (Sthaviravadins). S. Beal
writes, “and because in the assembly both common folk and
holy personages were mixed together, it was called the
assembly of the great congregation”.1 All the seceders
unanimously agreed to abide by the historic decision of their
council. They were convinced that their decision was in
conformity with the teachings of the Great Master and claim­
ed more orthodoxy than the Theravadins. Thus occurred
the first schism in the Sangha which accounted for the origin
of the two sects—the Theravada (Sthaviravada) and the
Mahasarighika—in the early Buddhist Sangha. This split
went on widening and in the course of time several sects came
into existence out of those two primitive schools.
In the history of the succession of schools, it is found
that the first schism in the Sangha was followed by a series
of schisms leading to the formation of different sub-sects, and
in the course of time eleven such sub-sects arose out of the
Theravada while seven issued from the Mahasanghikas.
Later, there appeared other sub-sects also. All these
branches appeared one after another in close succession within
three or four hundred years after the Buddha's parinirvana.
There are different authorities, such as the traditions of
the Theravadins, SammitTyas, Mahasanghikas, and subse­
quently the Tibetan and Chinese translations which give us
accounts of the origin of the different schools. Although
these traditions are not unanimous about the latter, a French
scholar, M. Andre Bareau, has recently arrived at a fairly
correct conclusion, on the basis of the information available
in different traditions,2 which is represented in the table
given on the next page.
It is not possible here to give an account of all the
1. Records of the Western Countries, Vol. II , p. 104.
2. Zes Secies Bouddhiques du Petit VShicule, (Saigon, J9o5.).
different schools. Only a few important ones among these
will therefore be considered.

The Sthaviravddins or the I heravudins

The earliest available teaching of the Buddha to be found
in Pali literature belongs to the school of the Theravadins,
who may be called the most orthodox school of Buddhism.
This school admits the human nature of the Buddha and he
is often represented as having human foibles, though he is re­
cognized as possessing certain superhuman qualities. He is
described in some passages as Devatideva, still, as in the
Catuma-sutta', he is impatient with some of his bhiksus
whom he dismisses for making a noise like undisciplined
folk, such as fishermen in a fish market. He is also subject
to human weaknesses when he says that he is eighty years
old and that he has a pain in his back: pitthi me dgilayati.'
The teaching of the Buddha according to this school is
very simple. He asks us to ‘abstain from all kinds of evil,
to accumulate all that is good and to purify our mind’.
These things can be accomplished by the practice of what
are called sila, samadhi, and prajfia. These have been ex­
plained in detail. SHa or good conduct is the very basis
of all progress in human life. An ordinary householder
must abstain from murder, theft, falsehood, wrong sexual
behaviour and all intoxicating drinks. If he becomes a
monk, he must live a life of celibacy, observe the remaining
four rules of good conduct for the householder and further
refrain from using garlands or decorating his person; he
must avoid soft seats and beds, must not use gold or silver,
nor watch dancing, nor attend concerts or unseemly shows,
nor eat after midday. Sometimes good conduct is also des­
cribed as refraining from the evil ways of life (dasa akuSala-
karmapatha), i.e., murder, theft and sexual misbehaviour;
falsehood, slander, harsh words and vain garrulous talk;
greed, ill-will and wrong philosophical views. Samadhi,
1. Majjhima, No. 67.
2. The Sekha-sutta, Majjhima, No. 53.
 meditation, is to be attained by means of one or other of
the forty objects of meditation. The purpose of this medi­
tation is to keep one’s mind perfectly balanced so that it
may be possible to gain a proper insight into the real nature
of things. This is done by cultivating insight (prajna).
The cultivation of prajna helps one to understand at one
and the same time the Four Noble Truths and the Law
of Dependent Origination,1 which tries to explain the pheno­
menon of life by showing the interrelation of life with the
one that precedes and the one that follows. Karma, the
actions of an individual, regulates all life, and the whole
universe is bound by it. so that karma is like the axle of
a rolling chariot.
The philosophy of this school is also very simple. All
worldly phenomena are subject to three characteristics—they
are anitya, or impermanent and transient; duhkha, or full of
sufferings; and anatma. that is, there is nothing in them which
can be called one's own, nothing substantial, nothing perma­
nent. All compound things are made up of two elements—
nama, the non-material part, and rupa, the material part.
They are further described as consisting of nothing but five
constituent groups <skandhas). namely, rupa, the material
quality, and four non-material qualities— sensation (vedana),
perception (sarijria), mental formatives (saniskara), and lastly
consciousness (vijnuna). These elements are also classified
into twelve organs and objects of sense (ayatanani) and
eighteen dhatus. The former consist of the six internal or­
gans of sense—the eye, the ear, the nose, the tongue, the
body and the mind (which is, from the Buddhist point of
view, also an organ) and the corresponding objects of sense,
namely, material objects, sounds, smells, tastes, tangibles
and those things that can be apprehended only by the mind
(dharmayatana). In the latter classification, one must
add six consciousnesses to the list of twelve ayatanas,
i.e., eye-consciousness, ear-consciousness, nose-consciousness,
tongue-consciousness, body-consciousness and mind-con-
1. These have haett explained briefly in Chapter 111, pp. 31-32.
sciousness and thus arrive at eighteen dhatus. Hence, this
most orthodox school of Buddhism has a pluralistic concep­
tion of the constituent elements of the universe. The
number of the constituents increases gradually from two to
five, then to twelve, and finally to eighteen. This number,
as will be seen later, increases still further in the case of
other schools. At the Council of Pataliputra, the teachings
of this school were, according to Pali sources, certified to be
those of the Vibhajyavada school.
In the Abhidhammattha-sahgaha, a later manual (about
8th— 12th centuries A.D.) of the psycho-ethical philosophy of
this school, Anuruddhacarya, the author, gives the follow­
ing as the four ultimate categories: consciousness (citta),
mental properties (caitasika>, material qualities (rupa), and
nirvana. Consciousness is further classified into eighty-nine
types (a hundred and twenty-one types according to another
classification), mental properties into fifty-two, and material
qualities into twenty-eight. Nirvana is -a happy state which
is free from passion, ill-will and delusion; in reality it is a
state which is beyond description.
When an individual thus understands the true nature of
things, he tries to renounce worldly life since he finds nothing
substantial in it. He avoids both indulgence in the pleasures
of the senses and self-mortification, follows the Middle Path
(Madhyama-pratipat), and moulds his life according to the
Noble Eightfold Path which consists of Right View, Right
Resolve, Right Words. Right Actions, Right Livelihood,
Right Effort. Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration.1
He realizes that all worldly suffering is due to craving or
hankering (trsna) and that it is possible for him to bring his
Suffering to an end by following the Noble Eightfold Path.
When he reaches that perfect state of dispassionateness,
nirvana, he becomes a ‘worthy man’, an Arhat. The life of
an Arhat is the ideal of the followers of this school, ‘a life
where all (future) birth is at an end, where the holy life is
fully achieved, where all that had to be done has been done,
J. Set* Chapter I I I , pp. 32-33.
 and there is no more return to worldly life’.1

The MahTsasakas
The confusion regarding this school among various autho­
rities is largely due to the fact that there were two groups
of this school which were prominent at two different periods.
According to Pali sources, this school along with the Vajji-
puttakas branched off from the Sthaviravadins and gave rise
to the Sarvastivadins, while Vasumitra tells us that this school
was derived from the Sarvastivadins. The earlier Mahi-
sasakas may probably be traced back to Puriina, who, as
mentioned earlier,- withheld his consent to the decisions arriv­
ed at at the first Council of Rajagrha. This school, it appears,
also spread to Ceylon. In an introductory stanza of the
Jatakatthakatha it is said that the author was persuaded
to write it by Buddhadeva, a friend born in the Mahi£asaka
tradition. Like the Theravadins, the earlier Mahlsasakas
believed in the simultaneous comprehension of truths. For
them the past and the future did not exist, while the present
and the nine asaipskrta dharmas did. These nine asamskrta
dharmas were: (1) pratisankhya-nirodha, cessation through
knowledge; (2) apratisankhya-nirodha. cessation without
knowledge, i.e., through the natural cessation of the causes;
(3) akasa, space; (4> anefijata, immovability; (5) kusala-
dharma-tathata; (6) akusala-dharma-tathata, and (7) avyakrta-
dharma-tathata, that is, suchness of the dharmas that are meri­
torious, unmeritorious and neither the one, nor the other;
<8) marganga tathata; and <9) pratitya-samutpada-tathata, or
suchness of the factors of the Path and suchness of the Law
of Dependent Origination. The last corresponds with that
in the list of the Mahasanghikas.
The Mahisasakas believed, like the Theravadins, that the
Arhats were not subject to retrogression. However, they held
that those who were in the first stage, srotapannas, were sub­
1.Khlnd jd ti, vusitam brahmaoariyam« katarp, lcaranlyam, ndparam
itthatt&yd ti.
2. See p. 98.
ject to such retrogression. No deva or god could lead a holy
life, nor a heretic attain miraculous powers. There was no
antara-bhava, or interim existence between this life and the
next. The Sangha included the Buddha and therefore chari­
ties given to the former were more meritorious than those
given to the Buddha only. Of the eight factors of the Noble
Eightfold Path, Right Speech. Right Action and Right Live­
lihood were not to be considered re<jl factors since they were
not mental actions. These were therefore to be excluded
from the factors of the Noble Path.
It is interesting to note that the later Mahlsasakas held
views contrary to those held by the earlier followers of the
sect. Like the Sarvastivadins, they believed in the exist­
ence of the past, the future and antara-bhava, and held that
the skandhas, the ayatanas and the dhatus always existed in
the form of seeds.

The Sarvastivadins
Among the Buddhist schools which adopted Sanskrit for
their literary medium, the Sarvastivadins come closest to the
Sthaviravadins. With the decline of the Sthaviravadins in
India this school bore the brunt of the battle against the
Mahayanists. Acarya Vasubandhu, the writer of the
Abhidharma-kosa, was a great champion of this school
before he was converted to Mahayanism under the influence
of his brother Asanga. This school flourished in India in
the Punjab and the North-West Frontier Provinces (now in
Pakistan) and Kaniska (1st century A.D.) was its great patron.
It was in his reign that a Council was held which became
famous in the history of Buddhism. It is said that at this
Council, held under Vasumitra’s guidance, the Buddhist texts
of the Sutra, the Vinaya and the Abhidharma were ordered
to be engraved on sheets of copper and deposited inside a
stupa. However, these engraved sheets have not yet been
traced.
The belief that all things exist, sarvam asti, advocated by
 this school perhaps goes back to the Samyutta-nikaya'
where the expression, sabbham atthi, occurs. It is this
belief that has given the school its name. With the Sthavi­
ravadins. the Sarvastivadins were the realists among the
Buddhists. They believed that it was not only the things
in the present that existed, but also the things in the
past and future which were in continuity with the pre­
sent. Like the Vatsiputriyas, the Sammitiyas and some of
the Mahasanghikas. they revolted against the dominance
of the Arhats who had attained a position of unsurpassed
eminence among the Sthaviravadins. They maintained that
an Arhat was subject to fall or retrogression, while, curious­
ly enough, they maintained at the same time that a srota-
panna. or an individual in the first stage, was not liable to
such retrogression. They also said that a continuous flow
of mind might amount to concentration (samadhi) of mind.
This school, like the Sthaviravadins. denied the transcendent
powers ascribed to the Buddha and the Bodhisattva by the
Mahasanghikas. It was their faith that holy life was possible
for gods and that even heretics could have supernatural
powers. They believed in antara-bhava. an interim existence
between this life and the next. They maintained that the
Bodhisattvas were still ordinary people (prthag-jana) and that
even the Arhats were not free from the effects of past actions
and still had something to learn.
They believed in nairatmya, the absence of any permanent
substance in an individual, though they admitted the per­
manent reality of all things. Like the Sthaviravadins. they
believed in the plurality of elements in the universe.
According to them, there were seventy-five elements, seventy-
two of them sarpskrta, compounded, and three asatnskrta,
uncompounded, which were akaSa or space, pratisarikhya-
nirodha, or cessation through knowledge, and apratisarikhya-
nirodha, or cessation, not through knowledge, but through
the natural process of the absence of required conditions.
The seventy-two sarpskrta dharmas were divided into four
1. S. iv, 15j also c f . M, i, 3.
groups: rupa, or matter which was held to be of eleven kinds,
including one called avijnapti-rupa. unmanifested action in
the form of a mental impress; citla, mind, forty-six mental
concomitants (citta-samprayukta dharmas) and fourteen
dharmas which were not connected with mind (citta-
viprayukta), the last being a new class of forces which were
not classed as mental or material, although they could not
be active without a mental or material basis. These seventy-
five elements were linked together by casual relations, six
of which were dominant <hetu> and four subsidiary (pratyaya).
According to some the followers of this school were also
called the Hetuvadins.

The Haimavatas
The very name suggests that the Haimavata school was
originally located in the Himalayan regions. Vasumitra,
in his book on the Eighteen Sects, calls the Haimavatas the
inheritors of the Sthaviravadins. but other authorities like
Bhavya and Vinitadeva look upon this school as a branch
of the Mahasanghikas. Like the Sarvastivadins. the
Haimavatas believed that the Bodhisattvas had no special
eminence, but unlike them, they said that the gods could
not live the holy life of brahmacarya and that heretics could
not have miraculous powers.

The Vatsiputriyas
The Vatsiputriyas. with whom the sub-sect of the
Sammitiyas has been identified, are singled out among the
Buddhists on account of their advocacy of the theory of
the pudgala, the permanent substance of an individual.
This school took its stand on passages in sacred texts which
contain the word pudgala and contended that, without the
existence of such a pudgala, rebirth could not be contem­
plated. Vasubandhu in his Abhidharma-koia tried, in a
special chapter at the end of the book, to refute this view.
The pudgala, according to the Vatsiputriyas, was neither
the same, nor different from the skandhas. Like the
They rejected certain portions of the canon which had been
accepted in the First Council, and did not recognize, as the
Buddha's sayings, the Parivara, the Abhidhamma. the
Patisambhida, the Niddesa and parts of the Jataka. The
Parivara is an appendix to the Vinaya and is probably the
composition of a Simhalese monk. The Abhidhamma was
compiled in the Third Council held under the patronage of
King Asoka. The Patisambhida. the Niddesa and a part
of the Jataka are not accepted as the Buddhavacana even
today. Opinion differs as to their authenticity as canonical
texts, since these works were compositions of a later period.
All these texts are therefore additional and are not included
in the canonical collection of the Mahasanghikas. Thus
they compiled afresh the texts of the Dhamma and the
Vinaya and included those texts which had been rejected
in Mahakassapa’s Council. Thus arose a twofold division
in the Canon. The compilation of the Mahasanghikas was
designated the Acariyavada as distinguished from Theravada.
compiled at the First Council.
Yuan Chwang records that the Mahasanghikas had
a complete canon of their own which they divided into five
parts, viz.. the Sutra, the Vinaya, the Abhidharma, the
Dharanis and Miscellaneous.1 The Vinaya of the Maha-
sahghikas, according to Yuan Chwang, was the same as
that compiled at Mahakassapa’s Council. He writes that
he studied the treatises of the Abhidhamma with two monks
at Dhanakataka in the South. He carried 657 Sanskrit
works from India back to China and translated them into
Chinese under the orders of the Emperor. Among them
were fifteen Mahasahghika works on the Sutra, the Vinaya
and the Abhidharma. Still earlier, Fa-hien had taken away a
complete transcript of the Vinaya of the Mahasanghikas
from Pataliputra to render into Chinese. Nanjio’s Catalogue
furnishes us with the names of the two Mahasarighika
Vinaya texts, the Bhiksu-vinaya and the Bhiksum-vinaya,
1. W atters, On the Travels of Yuan Chuang, Vol. II , p, 160 ; K orn,
M anual o/ Indian Buddhism, p. 4.
which are extant in Chinese only The only original work
of the Mahasahghika sect available to us is the Mahavastu,
or the Mahavastu-avadana. It is the first book of the
Vinaya-pitaka of the Lokottaravadins of the Mahasahghika
school. According to it, the Buddhas are lokottara (supra-
mundane) and are connected only externally with the
worldly life. This conception of the Buddha contributed
much to the growth of the Mahayana philosophy. The
biography of the Buddha is the central theme of the
Mahavastu and it gives us the history of the formation of
the Sangha and the first conversions. It is written partly
in Sanskrit and partly in Prakrit or a mixed Indian dialect
allied to Sanskrit. The work was probably composed
between the 2nd century B.C. and the 4th century A.D.
Inscriptions provide further evidence of the existence of
the Mahasahghika canon. In the Amaravati inscriptions,
for instance, terms like Vinaya-dhara. Mahavinaya-dhara
and Sarnyukta-bhanaka. have been used for monks and
nuns. Similarly, the Nagarjunakonda inscription bears
the words Digha-majjhima-parpcamatuka-osaka-vacakanam,
Digha-majjhima-nikaya-dharena. and so on. From all this
evidence it may be concluded that the canon of the Maha-
sahghikas was in existence at least as early as the first
century A.D.
According to Vinitadeva <8th century A.D.), the Maha-
sanghikas employed Prakrit for their literary medium. Bu-
ston tells us that the canon of the Mahasanghikas was
written in Prakrit.’ Csoma Koros states that the ‘sutra on
emancipation’ of the Mahasanghikas was written in a corrupt
dialect.-' Wassiljew holds that the literature of this school
was in Prakrit.3 The Mahavastu. as already observed, is in
mixed Sanskrit, by which is meant a variety of Prakrit. There
is therefore no room for doubt that the literature of this
school was in Prakrit.
1. Bu-w ton, V ol. I f , p. 100.
2. J.A.S.B , 183K, p. 134.
3. Der pp. 1294, 295.
 During the second century after the Buddha’s death, the
Mahasahghika sect was split up into Ekavyaharika1.
Lokottaravada, Kukkutika (Gokulika), Bahusrutiya and
Prajnptivada and shortly afterwards appeared the Saila
schools. The Caityakas were so called because of their cult
of the caityas (shrines). Both of them paved the way for
the growth of Mahayanism. The Sailas derived their name
from the hills located round the principal centres of their
activity. They were also called the Andhakas in the Ceylon­
ese Chronicles on account of their great popularity in the
Andhra country. The Pali commentary, however, mentions
that ‘both the Cetiyavadin (Caityavadin) and the Andhaka
schools were merely names, remote, provincial, standing for
certain doctrines’. Among the sections into which, the
Mahasanghikas were divided, the Caityakas and the Saila
schools were the most prominent and had great influence in
the South.
In their early career the Mahasanghikas could not make
much headway because of the strong opposition of the ortho­
dox monks, the Theravadins (Sthaviravadins). They had to
struggle hard to establish themselves in Magadha; but they
steadily gained in strength and became a powerful sect.
This is borne out by the fact that the sect established centres
at Pataliputra and Vaisali and spread its network to both
the North and the South. Yuan Chwang tells us that ‘the
majority of inferior brethren at Pataliputra began the
Mahasahghika school’. I-tsing (671—695 A.D.L also states
that he found the Mahasanghikas in Magadha (central
India), a few in Lata and Sindhu (western India) and a few
in northern, southern and eastern India. The inscription
on the Mathura Lion Capital (120 B.C.) records that a teacher
named Budhila was given a gift so that he might teach the
Mahasanghikas. This is the earliest epigraphic evidence
that the Mahasanghika sect existed. The Wardak vase in
Afghanistan containing the relics of the Buddha was present­
ed to the teachers of the Mahasanghikas by one Kamalagulya
1. Often styled Ekavyavaharika.
 during the reign of Huviska. At Andarah (Afghanistan)
Yuan Chwang found three monasteries belonging Co this
sect, which proves that this sect was popular in the North-
West. The cave at Karle in Bombay Presidency records
the gift of a village as also of a nine-cclIed hall to the ad­
herents of the school of the Mahasanghikas. Clearly, the
Mahisarighikas had a centre at Karle and exercised influence
over the people of the West. However, they were not con­
fined to Magadha alone but spread over the northern and
western parts of India and had adherents scattered all over
the country. Nevertheless, this was not true of the branches
of this sect which were concentrated only in the South. The
inscriptions at AmaravatT and Nagarjunakonda mention the
Hamghi (Ayira-haghana). the Caityika (Cetiavadaka), the
Mahavanaseliyana <Apara-mahavanaseliya), the Puvaseie. the
Rajagiri-nivasika (Rajasaila). the Siddhathika. the BahuSru-
tlya and the MahTsasaka sects. Most of these were local
and, barring the last mentioned, all were branches of the
Mahasanghika sect. The Amaravatl stupa is situated about
18 miles west of Bezwada. The stupa was probably con­
structed in the 2nd century B.C. Its outer rail was erected
in the 2nd century A.D. and the sculptures in the inner Tail
are supposed to belong to the 3rd century A.D. The
Nagarjunakonda represents, next to Amaravati, the most
important Buddhist site in southern India. We owe the
monuments of Nagarjunakonda to the piety of ccrlain queens
and princesses of the royal family of the Ikjvakus who were
devoted to Buddhism. These monuments may be assigned
to the 3rd or the 4th century A.D.. although the Mahacetiya
is probably of an earlier date. These structures at Nagar­
junakonda obviously flourished as important centres of the
branches of the Mahasahghika sect and became places of
pilgrimage. It is thus apparent that the Mahasanghikas
extended their activities both towards the North and the
South. However, they gained more influence in the South,
particularly in the Guntur and Krishna districts where the
popularity ol the Caityakas and the Saila sub-sects conlri-
 buted much to their success. The
/ name Andhaka also testifies
to the great popularity of the Sailas in Andhra.
The general doctrines of the Mahasanghikas with all their
branches are contained in the Katha-vatthu, the Mahavastu
and the works of Vasumitra, Bhavya and Vinitadeva. The
Bahusrutiyas and the Caityakas were later offshoots of the
Mahasanghika sect and differed somewhat from the original
Mahasanghikas in their views.
The Mahasanghikas, like the Theravadins, accepted the
cardinal principles of Buddhism, and were, in this regard, not
different from them. The fundamentals are the four noble
truths, the eightfold path, the non-existence of the soul, the
theory of karma, the theory of pratitya-samutpada, the thirty-
seven Bodhipaksiya-dharmas. and the gradual stages of spiri­
tual advancement. According to them the Buddhas are
lokottara (supramundane); they have no sasrava dharmas
(defiled elements); their bodies, their length of life and their
powers are unlimited; they neither sleep nor dream; they are
self-possessed and always in a state of samadhi (meditation);
they do not preach by name; they understand everything in
a moment (ekaksanika-citta); until they attain parinirvana, the
Buddhas possess ksayajnana (knowledge of decay) and anut-
padajnana (knowledge of non-origination). In short, every-
<hing concerning the Buddhas is transcendental. The Maha­
sanghika conception of the Buddhas contributed to the growth
of the later Trikaya theory in Mahayana. Thus the Maha­
sanghikas conceived of the Buddha docetically and gave rise
to the conception of the Bodhisattvas. According to them,
the Bodhisattvas are also supramundane, and do not pass
through the four embryonic stages of ordinary beings. They
enter their mothers’ wombs in the form of white elephants
and come out of the wombs on the right side. They never
experience feelings of lust (kama), malevolence (vyapada) or
injury (vihimsa). For the benefit of all classes of sentient
beings, they are born of their own free will in any form of
existence they choose. All these conceptions led to the
deification of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. A section of
the Mahasanghikas, (the adherents of Mahadeva, maintains
that Arhats also have frailties; that they can be taught by
others; that they still have a degree of ignorance, and a degree
of doubt; and that they can acquire knowledge only with the
help of others. Thus, Arhathood is not the final stage of
sanctification.
The other main beliefs of the Mahasanghikas are as
follows:
(i) The five vijnanas (sense-perceptions) conduce both
to saraga (attachment to worldly matters) and
viraga (non-attachment to the same state).
(ii) The rupendriyas (organs of sense are mere flesh.
They themselves cannot perceive the vijnanas of
the organs.
(iii) One can eliminate suffering and obtain the highest
bliss (nirvana) through knowledge (prajna).
(iv) A srotapanna (one who has entered the path of
sanctification) is liable to retrogress while an
Arhat is not.' He is capable of knowing his
own nature (svabhava) through his citta and
caitasika dharmas. He is also liable to commit
all kinds of offences txcept the five heinous
crimes (pancanantaryani), namely, matricide,
patricide, the murder of an Arhat, shedding the
blood of the Buddha and creating a split in the
Sangha.
(v) Nothing is indeterminate (avyakrta), i.e., the
nature of things must be either good or bad for
it cannot be neither good nor bad.
(vi) The original nature of the mind is pure; it be­
comes contaminated when it is stained by
upaklesa (passions) and agantukarajas (adventi­
tious defilements).
1. This view seems to he held by only a meet ion of t he Mahasanghikas,
fo r we are told that another section, and the Mah&devas in particular, held
exactly#the opposite view point,i.e., that an Arhat is liable to fall and that a
srotapanna is not. See Kvu. X X I, 3 and its commentary, p. 35 ; also
N. D utt, Early Monastic Buddhism, Vol. II. pp. 64*65.
 [This view of the Mahasanghikas may be con­
sidered the precursor of the idealistic philosophy
of Yogacara, in which the alayavijfiana is the
storehouse of pure consciousness which becomes
impure only when it is polluted by worldly objects.]
(vii) After death and before rebirth a being has no
existence.
Thus the Mahasanghikas differ considerably from other
sects in doctrinal matters as well as in their rules of discip­
line. The followers of the school wore a yellow robe,1 the
lower part of which was pulled tightly to the left.*

The Bahusrutiyas
The Bahusrutfya school is mentioned in the inscriptions
at Amaravati and Nagarjunakonda and is a later branch of
the Mahasanghikas. It owes its origin to a teacher who
was very learned in Buddhist lore (bahuSrutiya).
As for the fundamental doctrines of the BahuSrutfyas,
they maintained that the teachings of the Buddha concern­
ing anityata (transitoriness), duhkha (suffering), Sunya (the
absence of all attributes), anatman (the non-existence of the
soul) and nirvana (the final bliss) were lokottara (transcend­
ental), since they led to emancipation. His other teachings
were laukika (mundane). On this point the Bahusrutiyas
may be regarded as the precursors of the later Mahayana
teachers. According to them, there was no mode which
Jed to salvation (nirvanika). Further, the Sangha was not
subject to worldly laws. They also accepted the five pro­
positions of Mahadeva as their views. In some doctrinal
matters they had a great deal in common with the £aila
schools, while in others they were closely allied to the
Sarvastivadins.
According to Paramartha, this sub-sect made an attempt

1. See ‘ Introduction to th e H istory of Early Buddhiwt Schools9 by

R. K im ura in S ir Aahutosh Mookerjee Silver Jubilee Volume, Vol. I l l ,
Oriental, pt. 3, p. 126.
2. T a k a k i i H U , p p . 66*67.
 to reconcile the two principal systems of Buddhism—the
Sravakayana and the Mahayana. Harivarman’s Satyasiddhi-
Sastra is the principal treatise of this school.
The Bahusrutiyas are often described as ‘a bridge
between the orthodox and the Mahayana school’, as they
tried to combine the teachings of both. Harivarman be­
lieved in atma-nairatmya (the absence of soul in individuals)
and in dharma-nairatmya (the soullessness of all things).
Like the followers of the orthodox schools, he believed in
the plurality of the universe which, according to him, con­
tained eighty-four elements. Like the Mahayanists, he
maintained that there were two kinds of truth—conven­
tional (samvrti) and absolute (paramartha). He further
maintained that, from the point of view of conventional
truth, atma or the classification of the universe into eighty-
four elements existed, but. from the point of view of absolute
truth, neither existed. From the point of view of absolute
truth there is a total void (sarva-sunya). He believed in the
theory of Buddha-kaya as well as of dharma-kaya, which he
explains as consisting of good conduct (slla), concentration
(samadhi). insight (prajna), deliverance (vimukti) and know­
ledge of and insight into deliverance (vimukti-jnana-darsana).
Although he did not recognize the absolute transcendental
nature of the Buddha, he still believed in the special powers
of the Buddha, such as the ten powers (dasa balani), and the
four kinds of confidence (vaisaradya) which are admitted even
by the Sthaviravadins. He believed lhat only the present
was real, while the past and the future had no existence.

The Caityakas
The Caityavada school originated with the teacher
Mahadeva towards the close of the second century after the
parinirvana of the Buddha. He is to be distinguished
from the Mahadeva who was responsible for the origin of
the Mahasanghikas. He was a learned and diligent asce­
tic who received his ordination in the Mahasanghika
Sangha. He professed the five points of the Mahasanglv
 ikas, and started a new Sangha. Since he dwelt on the
mountain where there was a caitya, the name Caityaka was
given to his adherents. Furthermore, this name is also
mentioned in the Amaravati and Nagarjunakonda inscrip­
tions. It may be noted here that Caityavada was the source
of the Saila schools.
Generally speaking, the Caityakas shared the fundamen­
tal doctrines of the original Mahasanghikas, but differed
from them in minor details. The doctrines specially attri­
buted to the Caityaka school are as follows:
(i) One can acquire great merit by the creation, deco­
ration and worship of caityas; even a circum-
ambulation of caityas engenders merit.
(ii) Offerings of flowers, garlands and scents to
caityas are likewise meritorious.
(iii) By making gifts one can acquire religious merit,
and one can also transfer such merit to one's
friends and relatives for their happiness—a con­
ception quite unknown in primitive Buddhism
but common in Mahayanism. These articles of
faith made Buddhism popular among the laity.
(iv) The Buddhas are free from attachment, ill-will and
delusion (jita-raga-dosa-moha), and possessed of
finer elements (dhatuvara-parigahita). They are
superior to the Arhats by virtue of the acquisi­
tion of ten powers (balas).
(v) A person having samyak-drsti (the right view) is
not free from hatred (dve$a) and, as such, not
free from the danger of committing the sin of
murder.
(vi) Nirvana is a positive, faultless state (amata-
dhatu).
It is thus apparent that the doctrines of the Mahasangh-
ikas and their offshoots contain germs from which the later
Mahayana doctrine developed. They were the first school
to deify the Buddha and the Bodhisattva, which ultimately
led to the complete deification of the Buddha and the
 Bodhisattva in Mahayana, and to the consequent popularity
of the religion among the masses. Their conception of
Sambhogakaya led to the Trikaya theory which is one of the
prominent features of Mahayana. The worship of caityas
and the making of gifts advocated by the branches of the
Mahasanghika school was to a large extent responsible for
the evolution of the popular form of Buddhism. The
Mahasanghikas can, therefore, be said to be the precursors of
the Mahayana movement, through which Buddhism came to
attract more people than it would otherwise have done.
The commentary on the Katha-vatthu mentions a few
more schools, namely the Rajagirika, the Siddhatlhaka, the
Pubbaseliya, the Aparaseliya, the Vajiriya, the Uttarapatha,
the Vetulya and the Hetuvadins The first four are known
by the general name of Andhakas. About Vajiriya there is
little information to be had. The Uttarapathakas prevailed
in the North and in the north-western countries including
Afghanistan. They are credited with the doctrine of
Tathata which, as will be clear later, was a peculiarity of
the Mahayanists. This school maintained that even the
excreta of the Buddhas was fragrant. They maintained
that there was only one path and not four as maintained by
the orthodox schools, and that even laymen could become
Arhats. The Vetulyakas or the Mahasunyatavadins main­
tained that the Buddha or the Sangha had no real existence,
but were merely abstract ideas. They are also credited
with the view, which seems to be influenced by the Tantric
schools, that sex relations may be entered upon out of com­
passion, even in the case of recluses. The Hetuvadins are,
as already observed, identified by some with the Sarvastivad­
ins, while the Katha-vatthu commentary considers them to
be a distinct school and ascribes to them the view that in­
sight is not meant for men of the world and that happiness
may be handed on by one man to another.
Inscriptions of the 2nd and 3rd centuries A.D. indicate,
among others, the presence of the Sarvastivadins, the Maha­
sanghikas, the Caityakas, the Sammitiyas, the Dharmottarl-
 yas. the 8hadrayaniyas, the Mahlsasakas. the PurVasailiyas,
the Aparasailiyas, the Bahusrutiyas, and the KasyapTyas.
The accounts of the travels of Yuan Chwang and I-tsing in
the 7th century A.D. give us detailed information about the
number of monasteries that existed and about their inmates
who belonged to various Buddhist schools. In I-tsing’s
account there are references to specific sects belonging to
the orthodox or Sravakayana and the Reformed Church,
but it is also clear that, broadly speaking, the Buddhist
community was divided into two main groups, the old
Orthodox Church or Sravakayana and the later Reformed
Church or Mahayana.

The Madhyamika School

Mahayana Buddhism is divided into two systems of
thought: the Madhyamika and the Yogacara.
The Madhyamikas were so called on account of the
emphasis they laid on madhyama-pratipat (the middle view).
In his first sermon at Banaras, the Buddha preached
the Middle Path, which is neither self-mortification nor a
life devoted to the pleasures of the senses. However, the
middle path, as advocated by the adherents of the Madhya­
mika system, is not quite the same. Here, the middle path
stands foi the non-acceptance of the two views concerning
existence and non-existence, eternity and non-eternity, self
and non-self, and so on. In short, it advocates neither the
theory of reality nor that of the unreality of the world, but
merely of relativity. It is, however, to be noted that the
middle path propounded at Banaras has an ethical meaning,
while that of the Madhyamikas is a metaphysical concept.
The Madhyamika school is said to have originated with
the teacher, Nagarjuna or Arya Nagarjuna (2nd century
A.D.). He was followed by a galaxy of Madhyamika
thinkers, such as Aryadeva (3rd century A D .), Buddha-
palita (5th century A.D.), Bhavaviveka (5th century A.D.),
Candraklrti (6th century A.D.) and Santideva (7th century
A.D.). Nagarjuna wrote a number of works of which the
 Madhyamika-karika is regarded as his masterpiece. It
presents in a systematic manner the philosophy of the
Madhyamika school. It teaches that sunyata (the indes­
cribable absolute) is the absolute. There is no difference
between samsara ^(phenomenal world) and nirvana or
sunyata (reality). Sunyata or the absolute corresponds to
the nirguna Brahman of the Upanisads. In the invocation
in verse at the beginning of the work, Nagarjuna gives the
fundamentals of his philosophy in a nutshell. He describes
Pratitya-samutpada (Dependent Origination) by means of
eight negatives. ‘There is neither origination nor cessation,
neither permanence nor impermanence, neither unity nor
diversity, neither coming-in nor going-out, in the law of
Pratitya-samutpada. Essentially, there is only non-origina­
tion which is equated with sunyata. Elsewhere he also
states that Pratitya-samutpada is called sunyata. Hence
sunyata, referring as it does to non-origination, is in reality
the middle path which avoids the two basic views of exis­
tence and non-existence. Sunyata is the relative existence
of things, or a kind of relativity. Prof. Radhakrishnan
w rites:' ‘By sunyata. therefore, the Madhyamika does not
mean absolute non-being, but relative being.’ The Madhya­
mika view holds Sunyata to be the central idea of its philo­
sophy and is therefore designated the sunyavada. The
Madhyamika-karika further deals with two kinds of truths:
samvrti (conventional or empirical truth) and paramartha
(higher or transcendental truth). The former refers to ignor­
ance or delusion which envelops reality and gives a false
impression, while the latter is the realization that worldly
things are non-existent like an illusion or an echo. Param-
iirtha-satya (transcendental truth) cannot be attained with­
out resorting to samvrti-satya (conventional truth). Sam-
vrti-satya (conventional truth) is only a means, while param-
artha-satya (transcendental truth) is the end. Thus, view­
ed from the relative standpoint (samvrti). Pratitya-samutpada
explains worldly phenomena, but looked at from the abso-
1. Indian Philosophy, Vol. 1, p. t>01.
 lute standpoint (paramartha), it means non-origination at all
times and is equated with nirvana or sunyata.
Towards the beginning of the 5th century A.D., the
Madhyamika was divided into two schools of thought: the
Prasarigika school and the Svatantra school. The Prasari-
gika school uses the method of reductio ad absurdum to
establish its theses, while the Svatantra school employs in­
dependent reasoning. The former was founded by Buddha-
palita and the latter by Bhavaviveka.
A study of the Madhyamika works reveals that dialectic
is the core of Madhyamika philosophy.
It may be mentioned that the T ’ien-t'ai and San-lun sects
of China advocated the doctrine of sunyata and were thus a
continuation of the Indian Madhyamika system. The San-
ron sect in Japan also followed this system.
The Yogacara School
The Yogacara school is another important branch of the-
Mahayana, and was founded by Maitreya, or Maitreyanatha
(3rd century A.D.). Asahga (4th century A.D.), Vasubandhu
(4th century A.D.), Sthiramati (5th century A.D.), Dinnaga
(5th century A.D.), Dharma pa la (7th century A.D.), Dharma-
kirti (7th century A.D.), Santaraksita (8th century A.D.) and
Kamalasila (8th century A.D.) were noted teachers of this
school. They continued the work of the founder by their
writings and raised the school to a high level. The school
reached the acme of its power and influence in the days of
Asanga and his brother. Vasubandhu. The appellation
Yogacara was given by Asanga while the term Vijnanavada
was used by Vasubandhu.
The Yogacara was so called because it emphasized the
practice of yoga (meditation) as the most effective method for
the attainment of the highest truth (bodhi). All the ten
stages of spiritual progress (daSa bhumi) of Bodhisattvahood
had to be passed through before bodhi could be attained.
The school is also known as the Vijnanavada on account of
the fact that it holds Vijniiptimatra (nothing but conscious-
 ness) to be the ultimate reality. In short, it teaches
subjective idealism, or that thought alone is real. The “Yoga­
cara brings out the practical side of philosophy, while
Vijnanavada brings out its speculative features.” The
Lankiivatara-sutra, an important work of this school,
maintains that only the mind (cittamatra) is real, while ex­
ternal objects are not. They are unreal like dreams, mirages
and “sky-flowers”. Cittamatra, in this case is different from
alayavijnana which is the repository of consciousness under­
lying the subject-object duality. The alayavijnana is also
the womb of the Tathagata (Tathagata-garbha). Vasu-
bandhu’s Vijnaptimatrata-siddhi is the basic work of
this system. It repudiates all belief in the reality of the
objective world, maintaining that citta (cittamatra) or vijnana
(vijnanamatra) is the only reality, while the alayavijnana
contains the seeds of phenomena, -both subjective and objec­
tive. Like flowing water alayavijnana is a constantly-
changing stream of consciousness. With the realization of
Buddhahood, its course stops at once. According to Sthira-
mati, the commentator on Vasubandhu's works, alaya con­
tains the seeds of all dharmas including those which produce
impurities. In other words, all dharmas exist in alaya­
vijnana in a potential state. The Yogacarins further state that
an adept should comprehend pudgala-nairatmya (the non­
existence of self) and dharma-nairiitmya (the non-existence
of the things of the world). Pudgala-nairatmya is realized
through the removal of passions (klesavarana), and dharma-
nairiitmya by the removal of the veil that covers true know­
ledge (jneyavarana), i.e., by means of true knowledge. Both
these nairatmyas (non-substantiality) are necessary for the
attainment of emancipation.
The Yogacara recognizes three degrees of knowledge:
parikalpita (illusory), paratantra (empirical), and parinispanna
(absolute). Parikalpita is the false attribution of an imagi­
nary idea to an object produced by its cause and conditions.
It exists only in one’s imagination and does not correspond
to reality. Paratantra is the knowledge of an object pro-
 duced by its cause and conditions. This is relative know*
ledge and serves the practical purposes of life. Parinispanna
is the highest truth or tathata, the absolute. Parikalpita and
paratantra correspond to samvrti-satya (relative truth), and
parinispanna to paramartha-satya (highest truth) of the
Madhyamika system. Thus the Yogacara has three varieties
of knowledge for two of the Madhyamika.
The Yogacara differs from the Madhyamika only in that
it attributes qualities to reality. The former holds that reality
is pure consciousness (vijnanamatra), while the latter believes
if is sGnyata.
B. I n N o r t h e r n C o u n t r ie s

Tibet and Nepal

The account of the Buddhist sects in Tibet and Nepal has
been dealt with in a previous chapter,1 as part of the account
on the expansion of Buddhism in those countries, and need
not be repeated.
China
It is said that the Indians arrived in 217 B.C. at the capi­
tal of China in Shen-si to propagate their religion. About
the year 122 B.C., a golden statue was brought to the Em­
peror and, according to the Chinese Chronicle, this was the
first statue of the Buddha to be brought to China for
worship.
In the year 61 (or 62) A.D., the Emperor Ming-ti sent an
embassy to India to collect Buddhist canons and to invite
monks to come to China. A native of ccntral India, named
Kasyapa Matanga, went to China with them, and translated
a small but important sutra, Forty-two Sections. According
to the Chinese Chronicle, he died at Lo-yang.
Early in the fourth century, the Chinese people began to
adopt Buddhist monastic rituals. In the year 335 A.D., for
instance, a prince of the Ch’au Kingdom, in the reign of the
Eastern Ts’in dynasty, allowed his attendants to keep Bud-
1. See Chapter V, pp. 73-84.
 dhist observances. In this period, a number of monasteries
were established in northern China, and nine-tenths of the
people were said to have embraced Buddhism.
Between the fourth and seventh centuries A.D., famous
scholars like Fa-hien and Yuan Chwang came to India and
returned to China with a number of Buddhist texts, which
were worshipped alike by high and low. Some Indian scho­
lars, too, went to China at the request of Chinese emperors.
Among the latter may be mentioned Kumarajiva, Bodhi-
dharma and Paramartha. With Fa-hien and Yuan Chwang.
they became (he founders of the various schools of Chinese
Buddhism.
When Buddhism first came to China there was no spe­
cialized school of any kind, but gradually the Chinese Bud­
dhists became acquainted with different kinds of Buddhism
and the various practices associated with them. As the Bud­
dhist faith spread in China, its sub-divisions also spread
throughout the country from the North to the South. Ortho­
dox Buddhism thus steadily became heterodox and camc to
acquire characteristics of its own.

The Ch’an (Dhyuna) School

Bodhidharma evolved a system of his own according to
which the human being could attain Buddhahood only
through a consciousness of the identity of both the relative
and the absolute.
Bodhidharma came to China about 470 A.D. and be­
came the founder of esoteric schools which came to be divid­
ed into five principal branches. The esoteric schools are
called dan or ch’an (Skt. dhyana, Jap. zcn) in the modern pro­
nunciation. Bodhidharma was said to be the third royal son
who came either from South India or Persia. It is also
said that he had practised meditation against the wall of
the Shao-lin-ssu monastery for nine years. The followers of
Bodhidharma were active everywhere, and were completely
victorious over the native religions with the result that the
teachings of the esoteric schools have come to be highly
prized even in modern Japan.
It is natural that Bodhidharma, although a founder of
the esoteric schools, should have based his own upon the
philosophy of Nagarjuna, the most important teacher of
Mahayana Buddhism. Nagarjuna founded the Madhyamika
school of philosophy, which reduces everything to sunyata
(non-substantiality), and thus established the Madhyama
Pratipad (the Middle Way). His philosophy influenced Kau
Hwei-wen, who had studied the sastra Ta-chi-tu-lun, and
adopted the conception of concentration upon the Middle
Way (Chung-kwan). On the basis of the ideas of Kau Hwei-
wen, Tu Hwei-yang and Lieu Hing-si established the Nan-ngo
and Ts’ing-yuen schools.
According to these schools, to look inwards and not to
look outwards is the only way to achieve enlightenment,
which to the human mind is ultimately the same as Buddha-
hood. In this system, the emphasis is upon ‘intuition’, its
peculiarity being that it has no words in which to express itself,
no method to reason itself out, no extended demonstration of
its own truth in a logically convincing manner. If it ex­
presses itself at all, it does so in symbols and images. In the
course of time this system developed its philosophy of intuition
to such a degree that it remains unique to this day.
Besides the Ch’an-Buddhism (Dhyana Buddhism), it may
be worth summarizing the different sub-divisions of Buddhism
which, with the exception of the Tien-t’ai sect, have declined
and are no longer active.

The Vinaya School

The Vinaya School is based upon the Vinaya of the sacred
books, which were compiled at the Council held after the
Buddha’s death. The founder of this school in India was
Upali (Yeu-po-li; U-P-Li in old Chinese, Jap. Upali). one of
the ten chief disciples of the Buddha. He is known as the
author of Si-pu-luh. He preached the doctrine of the Dis­
cipline of Four Divisions. It was Tao Hsuan who established
this school as a sect in the 7th century A.D. This school is
also called Hing-si-fang-fei-chi-ngo, or Nan-shan, and was
popular in Nanking at that time. Its priests wear black and
believe in the protection of oneself against errors.

The Tantra School

The founder of the Tantra school (the secret teaching of
Yoga) is called Shan-Wu-Wei (Subhakara). It was recog­
nized as a sect in Japan. About the year 720 A.D
Tantrism was introduced into China by Shan-Wu-Wei
(Subhakara) and Kin-kang-chi (Vajramati). Shan-Wu-Wei
was said to be a king of Orissa in eastern India.
Yoga means “ to concentrate the mind”, and has also
come to mean “containing the secret doctrines”. This sect,
which taught the magic observances in Buddhist practices,
has another name, ‘Yoga-mi-kiau’. At one time, this school
was so prosperous that the Pan-Jo-tsung (Prajna school) and
Ssu-lun-tsung (Four Madhyamika Treatises school) were
absorbed in it.

The Vijnanavada School

This school, which devoted itself to the study of the sastra
Wei-shi-lun (Nanjio, Nos. 1215, 1240) and other works of its
kind, is called Wei-shi-siang-kiau. The authors of these books
were Wu-cho and I ’ien-ts'in, who had an excellent disciple in
Kiai-hien. an Indian living at the monastery at Nalanda. It
may be observed that this Indian established this school and
contributed much to the arrangement of the Buddhist
canons. Yuan Chwang, to whom Kiai-hien handed over the
Sastra, founded this school in his native land, China. The
school is also called Fa-siang-tsung and was led by Yuan
Chwang's disciple, Kwei-ki.

The Sukhdvativyuha School

The Sukhavativyuha or the Pure Land sect was founded
in China by Tan-lan (Jap. Donlan) in the reign of the Than
dynasty (7th century A.D.). According to the doctrine of
this sect, the Western heaven is the residence of the Amita
 Buddha (Amitayur Buddha). This sect bases its belief on
the formula that salvation is to be attained “through abso­
lute faith in another’s power”, and lays emphasis on the
repetition of the formula, Namo’mitabha-Buddhaya (Glory be
to Amita Buddha), which is regarded as a meritorious act
on the part of the believer. The repetition of the formula
is looked upon as the expression of a grateful heart. This
belief was also introduced into Japan and has been revived
in a modified form. In China the third patriarch of this
school was Shan-tao (Jap. Zendo) in the seventh century
A.D He preached the doctrine of the Pure Land sect for
more than thirty years, teaching the humble people to be­
lieve in salvation through Amita Buddha.
The Pure Land sect of Shan-tao was introduced into Japan
where it has obtained a firm footing and is a living religion
today.
The main texts of this school are the Aparimitayus-sutra
(No. 27). the Sukhavatyamrtavyuha-sutra (No. 200) and the
Buddhabhasitamitayurbuddhadhyana-sutra (No. 198).

The Avatamsaka School

The Buddhist sect founded by Fa-shun is called Fa-sing-
tsung, meaning “the school of the true nature” of the Bud­
dhist canons, it concentrates on the Hwa-yen-sutra (the
Avatamsaka-sutra No. 87). Fa-tsan, the third patriarch of
the Hwa-yen or the Avatamsaka school, built up the sect
and when he died in 643 (or 699—712) A.D. was honoured
with the title. Hien-sheu-ta-shi.
Seven works are ascribed to him. Among these are
Hwa-yen-yi-shan-ciao-i-fan-tshi-can, a treatise on the distinc­
tion of the meaning of the doctrine of one vehicle, ekayitna,
of the Buddhavataipsaka-sutra (No. 1591)1 Hwa-yen-cin-min-
fa-phin-nei-li-san-pao-cao (No. 1592), and Hwa-yen-cin-shi-tsz’-
can-yun-cien-lei-cie (No. 1602). The Avatamsaka school is
one of the most important sects in China and. like the T ’ien*
]. Thin and the following numbers refer to those in Nanjio'a Catalogue
of the Chinese Tripitaka.
t'ai, is representative of the genuine philosophy of Chinese
Buddhism.

The Madhyamika School

The San-lun-tsung (or the Three Madhyamika Treatises
school) is divided into two groups. The first follows the
tradition from Nagarjuna to Kumarajiva; and the second the
tradition from Chi-tsang (549—623 A.D.), a disciple of
Kumarajiva, to the time of its decline (8th century A.D.).
The first tradition is called the “old” and the second the
“new” San-lun-tsung. The main texts of this school consist
of Chun-lun (the Madhyamika-sastra, No. 1179), Pai-lun (the
Sata-sastra, No. 1188) and Shih-erh-men-lun (the DvadaSani-
kaya-sastra, No. 1186), which, in the opinion of Chi-tsang,
constitutes the San-lun literature of Chinese Madhyamika
Buddhism.
The San-lun-tsung was a Buddhist sect which expressed
the Madhyamika doctrine according to absolute truth (para-
martha-satya, Chen-ti). Besides this sect, there were others
which laid emphasis on different aspects of Madhyamika phi­
losophy. The texts of these sects are Ta-chin-tu-lun (the
Mahaprajnaparamita-sSstra, No. 1169), Shih-chu-phi-pho-sha-
lun (the DaSabhumivibhasa-sastra, No. 1180) and other texts
together with the main texts already mentioned. The groups
which embrace Madhyamika Buddhism are Si-lun-tsung, Pan-
jo-tsung, and Hsing-tsung, in which the San-lun-tsung and
Hwa-yen-tsung are also included. These schools stress the
doctrine of samvfti-satya (conventional truth), according to
which “all beings are conditioned and merely interrelated, but
do not come into existence in the absolute sense”. The
practical aspect of the Madhyamika philosophy was ex­
pressed by these schools in their approach to human life.
Although these schools contributed to the cultural deve­
lopment of ancient China for eight centuries, today they are
only objects of historical, textual and philosophical study. >
They no longer exist as religious institutions in China except
in the modified form of Tibetan Lamaism.
The T ’ien-t’ai School
Now to turn to the T ’ien-t’ai, the only living Buddhist
school in China today. The Buddhist school founded by
Chi-krai is called T ’ien-t’ai-tsung, after Mount Tien-t’ai,
where Chi-k'ai died (597 A.D.) in his sixty-seventh year in
the reign of the Souei dynasty. It is said that in his early
life. Chi-k'ai followed the teachings of the school estab­
lished by Bodhidharma. Afterwards he grew tired of this
system, and initiated a new branch of Buddhism, the main
texts of which are Miao-fa-lien-hwa-chin (the Saddharma-
pundarika-sutra, No. 134), Ta-ci-tu-lun (the Mahaprajna-
paramita-sutra-sastra, No. 1169), Nei-phan-chin (the Maha-
nirvana-sutra, No. 113) and Ta-pan-jo-po-lo-mi-to-chin (the
Mahaprajnaparamita-sutra, No. 1).
Chi-k'ai established a threefold system of comprehension
which is called Chi-kwan, or ‘perfected comprehension’.
This system consists of three comprehensions, namely,
‘empty’ (k'ung). ‘hypothetical’ (kia) and ‘medial’ (chung).
These three modes of comprehending beings are like the
three eyes of the God Mahesvara. The ‘empty’ mode
destroys the illusion of sensuous perception and constructs
supreme knowledge (prajna). The ‘hypothetical’ mode
does away with the defilement of the world, and establishes
salvation from all evils. Lastly, the ‘medial’ mode destroys
hallucination arising from ignorance (avidya), and estab­
lishes the enlightened mind. The system of threefold
observation is based on the philosophy of Nagarjuna, who
lived in south-eastern India about the second century A.D.
These Buddhist schools in China had their origin in
Indian Buddhism, but the ceaseless study of the Buddhist
texts by the Chinese schools resulted in completely new
religious experiences which seem to have grown out of the
historical background of China rather than of India. Al­
though this development was possible through the introduc­
tion of Indian Mahayana Buddhism, its theories were inter­
preted in a characteristic Chinese way with its respect
for Chinese tradition. The Chinese interpreted the Indian
texts in consonance with the traditional pattern that they
had inherited from their ancestors.

Japan
The Buddhist sects in Japan are said to be thirteen in
number. They are the Kegon (the Avatamsaka school),
the Ritsu (the Vinaya school), the Hosso (the Dharma-
laksana school), the Tendai, the Shingon (Tantric Bud­
dhism), the Jodo, the Jodo-shin, the Yuzunenbutsu, the Ji,
the Rinzai, the Soto, the Obaku, and the Nichiren sects.
Besides these, there were three others, namely, the Sanron
(the Three-sastra school of Madhyamika), the Kusha (the
Abhidharma-kosa school) and the Jojitsu (the Satyasiddhi-
sastra school), but they are more or less extinct and have
little independent influence.
Most of the Buddhist sects in Japan, it may be noted,
originally came from China. The Kegon. the Ritsu and
the Hosso have retained their Chinese character while the
others are local creations and have been completely re­
modelled. The chief features of the latter sects are briefly
discussed in the following pages.
The Tendai Sect
The Tendai sect was founded in Japan in 804 A.D. by
Saicho, who was better known as Dengyo-Daishi. He
entered the Order young and went for further study to
China, where he received instruction in the Dharma from
teachers at the famous T ’ien-t’ai school. On his return to
Japan, he propagated the new doctrine in the temple called
Enryakuji on Mount Hiei. This temple soon grew to be
an important centre of all Buddhist studies and prac­
tices in Japan. It is important to note that not a few of
the founders and scholars of the other sects were associat­
ed with this temple as students. Though an offshoot of
the Chinese T ’ien-t’ai, the Tendai sect absorbed the ideas
and principles of other doctrines such as Tantric Buddhism^
and those of the Dhyana and the Vinaya schools.
 It differs from the Chinese T ’ien-t’ai in its practical
approach, though both base themselves essentially on the
Mahayana text, the Saddharma-pundarika, laying stress
on the Ekayana theory. Saicho also introduced a practical
method called Kwanjin (intuition of the mind).

The Shingon Sect

The founder of this sect in Japan was Kukai (also
known as Kobo Daishi) who was a younger contemporary
of Saicho. An ascetic, a traveller, and a famous calli­
grapher and sculptor, Kukai was a versatile figure and a
remarkable scholar. Inspired by Saicho’s example, he
went to China in 804 A.D., and studied the esoteric Shingon
doctrine as a disciple of the Chinese priest, Houei-Kouo.
On his return to Japan he established the most widely
known monastery of the Shingon sect on the mountain of
Koya-san.
The doctrine of the Shingon sect is based mainly upon
the Mahavairocana-sutra and the other Tantric sutras.
The cult is essentially one of magical or mystical practices
as found in the Tantric Buddhism of Tibet. The name
Shingon comes from the Sanskrit mantra, meaning sacred
formula. According to the doctrine of this sect, enlighten­
ment can be attained through the recitation of a mantra
or Dharani.
The Shingon sect is now the only sect in Japan which
has retained the Tantric ideals. However, by following a
well formulated line of development, it was able to avoid
the degeneration which was the fate of the Tantric Buddhists
of India and Tibet.

Pure Land Buddhism

This comprises the Jodo, the Jodo-shin, the Yuzunen-
butsu and the Ji sects. The essential doctrine of these
sects is that salvation can be attained only through absolute
trust in the saving power of Amitabha. The followers of
this faith recite the name of Amitabha, longing to be re-
 born in his paradise through his grace.
The Jodo sect was founded in Japan in 1175 by Genku.
He was a renowned saint and is better known as Honen.
His doctrine was based largely upon that of Shan-tao <613 —
681 A.D.), one of the most famous teachers of the Amitabha
school in China. He selected the Sukhavativyuha-sGtras
(both the larger and the smaller editions) and the
Amitayurdhyana-sutra as canonical texts, teaching the
benefits of faith in the Amitabha Buddha. His principal
belief was that it was Amitabha who had willed that every
one should, after death, be born in his paradise called
Sukhavati. Hence it was by believing in Amitabha that
one could, at the end of life, gain access to the pure land
of one’s desire. The system, being a simple one, is suited
to the common people. Nenbutsu or the recitation of the
name of Amitabha Buddha is a natural practice among
the followers of this faith, but the emphasis is on the belief
rather than on practical recitation. None the less, Nenbutsu
should not be considered to be of secondary importance.
It is held that even those who are too preoccupied with
their affairs to go deeply into the doctrines of Buddhism
will be born in the heaven of Amitabha if they have im­
plicit faith in his name. Honen’s teachings found great
favour among the masses and the Jodo sect thus became
one of the most influential in Japan.
The teachings of the Jodo-shin sect. founded by
Shinran introduced several important reforms in the
Jodo sect. According to Shinran, all living beings shall
be saved on account of the vow taken by Amitabha. Hence,
the recitation of the name of the Buddha, as also other
practices in ordinary life, are but the expression of a grateful
heart.
Shinran introduced several important reforms in the
organization of the church, the object of which was to re­
move the division between the clergy and the laity. He
did not recognize any difference between the two occu­
pations. All human beings are equally capable of being
reborn in the pure land of the Buddha. “There were to
be no masters or disciples. AU were to be friends and
brothers before the Buddha.” Shinran, as others belong­
ing to this sect, led an ordinary life among the people and
considered himself not a preceptor, but merely a follower
of Amitabha’s way.
Because of Shinran’s liberal outlook, the Shin sect
rapidly became popular among the people, especially
among the farmers and the peasants. The religious free­
dom which his followers learnt from him impelled them to
seek political and social freedom which found expression
in several revolts of the farmers against their feudal lords
in the 16th century A.D.
The Uzunenbutsu sect was founded by Ryonin (1072 —
1132 A.D.) and the Ji sect by Ippen (1239— 1289 A.D.).
These sects had no significant influence in Japan. The
doctrine of Ryonin was influenced by the Kegon philo­
sophy and that of Ippen by Zen Buddhism.

Zen Buddhism
The word Zen comes from zena (Chinese: Chan) which
is a transcription of the Sanskrit dhyfina, meaning con­
templation.
Zen Buddhism has three branches in Japan, namely,
the Rinzai, the Soto, and the Obaku. The first group
was founded in Japan by the Japanese monk, Eisai (1141—
1215 A.D.), the second by Dogen (1200—1253 A.D.) and
the third by a Chinese monk called Igen, about 1653 A.D.
Eisai and Dogen spent several years studying in China.
The essence of Zen Buddhism is summed up as follows:
“Look into the mind and you will find Buddhahood.”
This sect lays great stress on meditation or contemplation
which alone can lead one to enlightenment.
We now turn to the doctrine of Dogen, which is one
of the most important and representative features of Zen
Buddhism.
Dogen started life as a monk seeking an answer to the
question: “Why did so many Buddhas practise the way of
self-enlightenment, although all living beings, by their very
nature, already had Buddhahood in them.” As nobody in
Japan could satisfy him with a convincing answer, he went
to China to seek light. There he attained enlightenment
under the instruction of a Zen Buddhist monk. On his
return to Japan he propagated the following doctrine: “All
human beings have already been enlightened. They are
Buddhas by nature. The practice of meditation is nothing
but the Buddha’s act itself.”
The Buddha’s acts continue incessantly and ceaselessly
for the improvement of human society, but human beings
should also constantly strive for the welfare of the community
in which they live.
Zen Buddhism found great favour among the warriors for
whom steadiness of mind was necessary. Patronized and
encouraged by the Shoguns, Zen Buddhism rapidly spread all
over the country. The Rinzai sect had closer contact with
the Shogunate Government than the Soto, which, however,
was very popular among the local lords and the farmers. As
far as the number of followers is concerned the Soto sect is
now next only to the Shin sect.
Zen Buddhism made a significant contribution to the
development of Japanese culture. It brought to Japan the
higher Chinese culture of those days. The painting in
black and white, the Noh dance, the tea ceremony and the
flower arrangements—all came into vogue as a result of the
influence of Zen Buddhism. Moreover, we cannot overlook
the fact that the spirit of Zen Buddhism played a consider­
able part in the formulation of the tenets of Bushido
(Japanese chivalry).

The Nichiren Sect

This sect is called after its founder, Nichiren, who was
a great patriot and saint of Japan. He was born in 1222
A.D. in Kominate in the house of a fisherman. He received
ordination a t the age of fifteen in a monastery on a hill
called Kiyozumi. He studied various branches of Buddhist
literature and travelled widely over the country in search
of the essential doctrine of Buddhism. After long yeais
of study and of travel, he declared the Saddharma-
pundarika (the Lotus of the Good Law) to be the final
revelation of the truth. He introduced the formula, nemu
myohn renge kyo (homage to the sutra of the Lotus of the
Good Law), perhaps to counteract the influence of Ner-
butsu of the Jodo sect. According to him, the Sakyamuni
Buddha is the eternal, absolute Buddha and the recitation
of the Saddharma-pundarlka-sutra or even its title is the
best way of attaining enlightenment.
He expressed his views against the other sects so
violently that he was often in trouble, although he always
had miraculous escapes.

C . In So u t h e r n C o u n t r ie s

Fortunately, in the Buddhist countries of southern Asia,

there never arose any serious differences on the fundamentals
of Buddhism. All these countries except Viet-Nam—which
is a Mahayana country—have accepted the principles of
the Theravada school and any difference there may be
between the various schools is restricted to minor matters.

Ceylon

Ceylonese sources refer to the schools of Abhayagiri,

Dakkhina-vihara and Jetavana which had brought about
serious splits in the Buddhist community of Ceylon. Of
these, the Abhayagiri school, which was also sometimes
called the Dhammaruci-nikaya, flourished as a respectable
rival to the Mahavihara school from which it differed in
certain fundamentals. The followers of these schools were
also called Vetulyavadins. In the 90urse of the long
struggle between the Mahavihara school and the Abhayagiri
school, the former ultimately won in Ceylon. There are
 now three different fraternities in Ceylon which owe their
names to the places from which Upasampada was brought,
i.e., Siam, or Upper or Lower Burma.

Burma
As we know from the Sasanavamsa1 the Burmese
Sangha was also split up over minor matters like the inter­
pretation of certain Vinaya rules. One of the questions
under consideration was whether Buddhist monks upon
being offered an elephant as a gift by the King should re­
tain it for their own use or let it go free into the forest.
Another matter of dispute was whether or not a monk
should make a personal recommendation of his pupil to any
householder. Later, controversies arose as to whether
monks, when they went begging in a village should cover
only the left shoulder with their robe, leaving the other bare
(ekamsika), or cover both the shoulders (parupana). The
argument raged for over a hundred years until the contro­
versy was finally settled by a royal decree in the reign of
King Badoah Pra (1781 A.D.). Sometimes trifling matters
such as the use of a fan or the use of palm-leaves as a
head-dress also became matters of controversy and resulted
in further splits.
At present there appear to be three main fraternities
in Burma. These differ mostly on questions of personal
behaviour and very little on essential points. The
Sudhamma fraternity which is the oldest and the largest
numerically permits the use of umbrellas and sandals, the
chewing of betel nuts or betel-leaves, smoking, and the use
of fans at the time of the recitation of the parittas (protec­
tive hymns). The Schwegin group, founded by Jagara
Mahathera in the reign of King Mindon (19th century A.D.),
does not permit the chewing of betel nuts or betel leaves in
the afternoon, nor does it favour smoking. The Dvara-
nikaya group of monks uses the expressions kaya-dvara
vaci-dvara, mano-dvara (the doors of body, tongue and
1# M. Bodo*s edition, pp. 60-H7.
mind) instead of kaya-kamma, vaci-kamma and mano-
kamma (actions of the body, tongue and mind).

Thailand and Cambodia

In Thailand and Cambodia, also, there are two frater­
nities, namely, the Mahanikaya, and the Dhammayuttika-
nikaya which is descended from the Ramann sect of Lower
Burma. The latter is considered to be stricter in discipline.
In Cambodia, the difference is restricted mainly to the pro­
nouncing of Pali words and to very minor rules of conduct.
 Buddhist Literature

G e n e ra l
As far as our present knowledge goes, we find that the
main stock of systematized Buddhist literature, in the original
or in translation, is contained mainly in Pali, Sanskrit (pure
or mixed), Tibetan and Chinese, although the Buddhist texts
were also translated into the language of the countries*to
which Buddhism spread.
In the treasure-house of Buddhist literature, the Pali
Tripitaka represents the earliest available and most complete
collection of Buddhist sacred literature. It is preserved in
three systematic collections : (1) the Vinaya-pitaka, or the
Book of Discipline, (2) the Sutta-pitaka, the popular book
of discourses, and (3) the Abhidhamma-pitaka, the collection
of books on abstruse philosophy based on psychological
ethics. The names of various books in these three Pitakas
and their mutual relation can be understood from the table
on the next page
Besides this canonical literature in Pali, there is also the
non-canonical literature, consisting of the Milinda-pafiha, the
Netti-pakarana, Buddhadatta’s Manuals on Vinaya and
Abhidhamma, commentaries on the Pali Tripitaka texts,
including the Jatakas, written by or ascribed to Buddha-
ghosa or Dhammapala, Chronicles of Ceylon like the Dfpa-
vamsa, the Mahavainsa, and the Culavamsa and later works
in Pali modelled on classical Sanskrit poetry. Among the
works of grammar, those of Kaccayana and Moggallana,
the Rupasiddhi and the Saddaniti are also well known.
Buddhaghosa’s masterly original work, the Visuddhimagga,
 Vinaya-pitaka Sutta-pitaka Abhidhamma-pitaka
(5 books) (5 collections) (7 books)

— \
Sutta-vibhunga Khandhaka Parivara Dhamma-sangani
Vibhanga
Dh&tu-kathS,

2500 YEARS OF BUDDHISM

(--------------- \ Puggala-pafinatti
Mahavagga Cullavagga Kat ha-vat thu
Yamaka
r "I P atth an a
Mahft-vibhaftga Bhikkhuni-vibhanga

--------1----------
Dlgha-nikaya Majjhima-nikaya SaTnyutta-nik&y a Angut t ara-nikay a Khuddaka-nik ay a
(15 books)

Khuddaka-patha Dhammapuda Uclana Itivuttaka Suttanipata Vimana-vatthu Peta-vatthu Thera-gatha

(1 ) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8)

( i------------~ l------------------ 1--------------------- 1--------------------- 1------------------------ 1---------

Therl-gatli* Jatak a Niddesa Pajis«n\l>hida Apad&nn Buddhavamsa CnriyiUpitaka
(9) (10) (11) (12) (13) (14)' (15)'
 is veritably a small cyclopaedia on early Buddhism.
Unfortunately, we have at present no complete canon of
Buddhist books preserved in Sanskrit, as in Pali. It appears,
however, that the Sarvastivada school did possess the Agamas
corresponding to the Pali Nikayas and seven books of Abhi­
dharma corresponding to the seven books of the Pali Abhi­
dhamma. The Mula-sarviistivadins possessed a Vinaya-
pitaka and large sections of this preserved in the Gilgit
Manuscripts have now been published. These texts reveal
in several places a remarkable divergence from the corres­
ponding Pali texts, though they have some resemblance in
general.
In Sanskrit, pure or mixed, therefore, we find several in­
dependent texts or fragments of texts which are of a varied
nature and belong to different schools of both the Hmayana
and the Mahayana type. The Mahavastu is claimed to be
a book on Vinaya belonging to the Lokottaravadins of the
Mahasanghikas but its subject matter is so varied that we
find in it sutras corresponding to some in the Digha, the
Majjhima, and the Suttanipata as well as stories which
correspond to some in the Pali Jatakas. The Lalitavistara,
an incomplete biographical account of the Buddha in mixed
Sanskrit, is considered to be a text of the unorthodox (Maha­
yana) school and forms part of the Vaipulya-sutra. Asvaghosa
is known for his Buddhacarita and Saundarananda and
Aryasura for his Jataka-mala, a Sanskrit text, though far
more polished, corresponding to the Pali Cariya-pitaka.
There is also a vast Avadana literature, corresponding to the
Pali Apadanas, containing stories intended to explain the
good or bad effects of good or bad karma.
Among the Mahayanist sutras, nine texts or dharmas are
regarded as the most important, of which special mention
might be made of the Astasahasrika-prajnaparamita, the
Saddharma-pundarlka, the Lalitavistara, the Lankavatara.
the Suvarna-prabhasa, the Gandavyuha. the Tathagata-
guhyaka, the Samadhiraja and the Dasabhumisvara. These
are called the Vaipulya sutras. Nagarjuna, Vasubandhu and
Asanga are the authors of the philosophical works of this
school, and we shall have occasion to refer to them else­
where1.
in Tibet, too. there is a large collection of translations of
Indian Buddhist texts numbering more than 4,566. These
are divided into two groups, namely, Bkah hgyur, popularly
called the Kanjur, consisting of 1,108 texts, and Bstan-hgyur,
popularly called the Tanjur, consisting of 3,458 texts. The
Kanjur is divided into the following seven parts: (1) Vinaya,
(2) Prajna-paramita, (3) Buddhavatamsaka, (4) Ratnakuta,
(5) Sutra. (6) Nirvana, and (7) Tantra. while the Tanjur is
divided into (I) Tantra, and (2) Sutra.
There exists a large number of translations from Indian
texts into the Chinese language. In his Catalogue, Bunyiu
Nanjio records as many as 1,662, which are classified into
four divisions: (I) Sutra-pitaka. (2) Vinaya-pitaka, (3) Abhi-
dharma-pitaka. and (4) Miscellaneous. Hobogirin, a still
later catalogue, mentions as many as 2,184 texts printed in
fifty-five volumes of the Taisho edition. In another 25
volumes, there are supplementary texts, written in China and
Japan. In Japan there are three complete translations of the
Chinese Tripitaka. including the supplementary 25 volumes
in the Taisho edition of the Tripitaka. In the Manchurian
language also there is a translation of the same, and in
Mongolian, a translation of the Tibetan Tanjur.2
The intention in this chapter is to survey some important
books in Pali and Buddhist Sanskrit only.

S u r v e y o f im p o r t a n t b o o k s in P a h a n d B u d d h i s t S a n s k r i t

There was at one time a vast Buddhist literature in Pali,

the Prakrits, mixed Sanskrit and pure Sanskrit. It is, indeed,
ironical that not a single Buddhist work, with the exception
of the Manjusrimulakalpa, has been found within the
borders of India. The main reasons for such a complete
1. See Cliapter IX .
2. Chou Haing Ku&ng, Indo-Chinese Relation# : A History o f Chine**
Buddhism, pp. 203, 205.
disappearance of Buddhist literature from India are (i) that
its study was confined to the ordained monks and novices
resident in the monasteries, (ii) that the literature, which was
mostly religious, was preserved in manuscript in the libraries
or the cells of the monasteries and never kept in the houses
of laymen, and (iii) that with the decay or destruction of the
monasteries, whether by the passage of time or through de­
secration and vandalism, these manuscripts were destroyed.
The Buddhist literature that we study today has come to us
from monasteries outside India, in Ceylon, Burma, Siam and
Nepal, and in translations from Tibet. China and Mongolia.
An idea of the vastness of the literature can be formed from
the works mentioned in the Chinese and Tibetan Catalogues.
A remarkable addition to our knowledge of Buddhist litera­
ture has been made by the discoveries of manuscripts in
Central Asia and Gilgit as well as by the manuscripts photo­
graphed in Tibet by Rahul Sankrityayan and collected by
Prof. G. Tucci. The original Sanskrit manuscripts, found
in Central Asia, Gilgit and Tibet, belonging mostly to the
fifth or sixth century A.D. or to an earlier period, were
preserved in Central Asia and Gilgit in stone chambers built
under the stupas or monasteries, and in temples in Tibet
where they were meant to be worshipped only and not
studied. These discoveries have thrown a flood of light on
the development of Buddhist literature and the languages in
which it was written, particularly on some extinct Central
Asian dialects into which some of the texts were translated.
Buddhist literature may be divided broadly into two
sections: the Hlnayana (in Pali and mixed Sanskrit) and the
Mahayana (in mixed and pure Sanskrit). It can be further
sub-divided into literatures of different sects of both the
Hinayana and the Mahayana schools.
I. Biographies
The life of the Buddha provided a fascinating subject for
the ancient Buddhist writers and compilers. There are five
biographies of the Buddha: (i) the Mahavastu of the Maha-
sanghikas (Lokottaravadins), (ii) the Lalitavistara of the
Sarvastivadins in mixed Sanskrit, (iii) the Buddhacarita com­
posed by Asvaghosa in pure Sanskrit in the high-flown kavya
style, (iv) the Nidanakatha in pure Pali forming the introduc­
tory part of the Jatakas, and lastly (v) the Abhiniskramana-
sutra of the Dharmaguptas, probably written in mixed Sanskrit
but now extant only in a Chinese translation which has been
rendered into English by Beal under the title of The Romantic
Legend of Sakya Buddha (1875). Besides these, there are stray
pieces in Pali and Sanskrit Vinaya, as also in the Nikayas,
depicting certain periods or events in the Buddha’s life. The
Mahapadana-sutta, for example, deals with the life of the
previous Buddhas, particularly with that of Vipassi, who is
almost a replica of Gautama Buddha; the Ariya-pariyesana-
sutta relates the events after the Bodhisattva’s renunciation
up to the delivery of his first discourse while the Mahapari-
nibbana-sutta gives a vivid account of the Buddha’s last
journey, his cremation and the division of his earthly relics.
Likewise there are in the Suttanipata, the Apadana and the
Mahavarjtsa pieces dealing briefly with the Buddha’s life.
There is a late poetical work in Pali called the Maha-
bodhivamsa which contains legends about the twenty-four
Buddhas, during whose time Gautama Buddha acquired the
necessary virtues of a Bodhisattva.
A true picture of the missionary activities of the Buddha,
which spread over forty-five years, is found in the introductory
parts of the Jatakas and the suttas of the five Nikayas as
well as in the Vinaya-pitaka.
Of the five biographies of the Buddha, the most system­
atic is the Lalitavistara. Its sonorous gathas are replete
with bold imagery and its descriptive accounts in prose and
poetry, though unrealistic, are calculated to produce faith
and devotion for the Great Being. Next comes the Maha­
vastu which relates incidents of the Buddha’s life according
to the different traditions, with sudden breaks in the conti­
nuity of the accounts. Its style is quaint and halting, and
shows clearly its pristine character. Its importance lies in
the fact that the stories of the past births of the Buddha are
introduced in it to support incidents in the present life of
the Teacher. This was a common practice among the ancient
writers, and even the Nikayas and the Vinaya are not free
from such digressions, not to speak of the Vinaya of the
MGla-sarvastivadins. It is not easy to give an estimate of
the Abhiniskramana-sutra as the original text has been lost.
From the abridged English translation of Beal, however, it
can be stated that this biography occupies a place nearer to
the Lalitavistara than to the Mahavastu. It opens in the
style of the Mahavastu and, like the latter, recounts the
Jatakas towards the end to underline the meritorious acts
of the Buddha in his missionary days. The compiler of the
biography has attended to certain incidents, thereby follow­
ing the tradition of either the Mahasanghikas or of the
Kasyapiyas or of the Mahasthaviravadins. The Nidana-
katha. in Pali, has an individual approach. It devotes the
whole of the “ Distant Epoch” to a detailed account of the
twenty-four Buddhas, during whose time the Bodhisattva was
born in different forms and acquired the virtues necessary
for Buddhahood. In the “ Intermediate” and “ Proximate”
Epochs, it relates the incidents of the Buddha’s life without
much embellishment. Like the Mahavastu it occasionally
mentions the Jatakas without reproducing the stories at
length. The Buddhacarita stands by itself and has nothing
in common with the biographies, except the well-known
incidents of the Buddha’s life with certain deviations. The
biography extends to the session of the first Council and
follows the Pali tradition generally. The Teacher is depicted
as a human being, who succeeded in achieving perfection on
account of accumulated merit in a past life. As a kavya it
stands unrivalled in Buddhist literature.

(i) The Mahavastu

The Mahavastu is an extensive work (covering 1,325
pages in print) written in mixed Sanskrit. It claims to be
the first book of the Vinaya-pitaka of the Lokottaravada
 branch of the Mahasanghikas. The Mahasanghikas, it may
be observed, were the first batch of monks to secede from the
orthodox group, the Theravadins or Sthaviravadins, about a
century after the Buddha’s passing. They lived mostly at
Vaisali and Pataliputra, and migrated, in course of time, to
Amaravati and Nagarjunakonda in the Guntur district of
Andhra State.
Its language and style of composition seem to suggest that
the Mahavastu must have been written as early as the 1st
or 2nd century B.C.
Most of the Indologists who have studied this work are
of the opinion that it lacks in system and is, by and large,
a confused mass of legends and historical facts. This criti­
cism is partially true: none the less the scattered episodes
in the treatise are not wholly unrelated. An attempt will
be made in the following pages to indicate the lines
which the compiler or the author followed to bring together
the floating mass of legends and traditions concerning
Sakyamuni’s birth and previous births.
At the outset the compiler gives an account of the hells,
and of the sufferings witnessed there by Mahamaudgalyayana.
Then he mentions the four Caryas (courses of attainments)
through which an individual must pass in order to attain
Buddhahood. The first Carya is called Prakrticarya, in
which an individual is expected to be obedient to his parents,
to the Sramanas and brahmanas, and to the elders, to per­
form good deeds, to instruct others to offer gifts, and to
worship the Buddhas. While a being is in this Carya, he Is
just a common being and not a Bodhisattva. Sakyamuni
practised this Carya from the time of Aparajitadhvaja
Buddha.
The second Carya is called Pranidhi or Pranidhana.
This consists in a being’s resolving to attain bodhi in due
course. Sakyamuni took this resolution five times in the
course of his many existences as the ancient Sakyamuni
Buddha, whose life extended over aeons.
The third Carya, called Anuloma (i.e., forward or pro­
gressive) is a continuation of the previous Carya and con­
sists in acquiring the virtues necessary to become a Buddha.
Sakyamuni began this Carya at the time of Samitavi
Buddha. During the second and third Caryas, a Bodhisattva
acquires the virtues mentioned in the Jatakas and advances
from the first to the eighth bhumi. Sakyamuni reached the
seventh bhumi, when he was born as Prince Ku&i1.
The fourth or the last Carya is called Avivarta or
Anivartana (non-returning) and commences with the Bodhi­
sattva reaching the eighth bhOmi when retrogression becomes
impossible for him. When Sakyamuni was reborn as
Meghamanava,2 he reached this Carya at the time of
Dipankara Buddha, who confirmed his ultimate success in
attaining bodhi^ It was reconfirmed by Sarvabhibhu
Buddha when Sakyamuni was bom as Abhiya or Abhiji
bhiksu. Subsequently, the Bodhisattva was born innumer­
able times3 in order to cross the eighth and ninth bhumis. He
ultimately reached the tenth bhumi to be born as Jyotipala-
manava and given Yauvarajyabhiseka by Kasyapa Buddha,
at last becoming the god of gods in the Tusita heaven. He was
to complete the tenth bhumi as Gautama Buddha under the
Bodhi tree at Gaya.
After dealing with the bhumis, the compiler takes up the
story of the last existence of Dfpankara as a Bodhisattva
which is almost a replica of the story of Sakyamuni’s birth.
After attaining bodhi he met Meghamanava, a very learned
brahmana student, and told him that he would oecome
Gautama Buddha. A similar forecast was made by Buddha
Mangala when our Bodhisattva was born as Atula
Nagaraja.
The continuity of the biography is broken here, and all
of a sudden an episode of Gautama Buddha’s missionary life
is introduced. This episode deals with the disappearance of

1. N ot the K ush of the K usa-Jataka.

2. The story of Meghamanavaka, though substantially similar to th a t of
Sumedha Brahm ana of the N idanakatha, differs from it in detail.
3. During tne time of the Buddhas listed in Vol. I, pp. 136-141.
a pestilence ravaging Vaisali, the city of the Vajjis and
Licchavis, as soon as Gautama Buddha stepped into the city
to the discomfiture of the heretical teachers, Purana Kasyapa
and others who had failed to allay it. He recited the Ratana-
sutta, a Sanskritized version of the sutta in Pali.
The compiler concludes this part of his story by tracing
the origin of the Siikyas and Koliyas, to which clans the
parents of Prince Siddhartha belonged. The account goes
back to the origin of the world and its first inhabitants and
the selection of Mahasammata as the first king, from whom
the Sakyas and Koliyas were descended.
The whole of this part of the Mahavastu corresponds
roughly to the “ Distant Epoch” of.-the Nidanakatha, with
the difference that the story of the Bodhisattva is carried back
to his pre-Bodhisattva existences when he was engaged in
Prakrticarya,
The actual biography of Prince Siddhartha is to be founJ
in the second volume of the Mahavastu and corresponds to
the “ Intermediate Epoch” of the Nidanakatha. It opens
with an account of the following topics: the Bodhisattva’s
selection of time, place, continent and family, his birth at
Lumbinivana. Rsi Asita’s visit, the Bodhisattva \s trance at
Krsigrama, the display of skill, marriage, and Rahula’s
appearance as a son of Yasodhara. although he was self-born.
The above is repeated in a slightly different form, perhaps
according to another tradition, and then two Avalokita-sutras
of the semi-Mahayana type are introduced, one of which
relates the topics in verse in a condensed form. This volume
concludes with the Bodhisattva’s approach to the Niranjana
river and the defeat of Mara.
The third volume of the Mahavastu1 corresponds to the
“ Proximate Epoch” of the Nidanakatha. The first topic it
deals with concerns the conversion of Mahakasyapa- with an
incidental reference to the rule of Trikabhojana, according
to which not more than three monks could eat together when
invited. It is followed by a detailed account of the conver-
1. i*. 47 it.
 ^ /
sions of Sariputra and Maudgalyayana, King^ Suddhodana,
Mahaprajapati, Yasodhara, Rahula and the Sakyan youths
along with Upali. After an intervening Bahubuddha-sutra, the
story of the Buddha’s visit to Kapila.yastu is resumed. The
narrative then suddenly reverts to the seven weeks passed
by the Buddha after the attainment of bodhi. Next comes
an account of his first missionary career which is followed
up to the conversion of the Buddha and King Bimbisara at
Rajagrha.

(ii) The Nidanakatha

The only biography of Gautama Buddha in Pali is the
Nidanakatha which forms the introduction of the Jataka
commentary. Its authorship is not mentioned anywhere, al­
though the author speaks of the three monks, viz-,
Atthadassi, a recluse, Buddhamitta of the Mahisasaka sect
and Buddhadeva. a monk of clear intellect, who inspired
him to write the Jataka commentary.'
About the division of the biography, the compiler of the
Nidanakatha states that the existence of the Bodhisattva
from the time of Dipankara Buddha up to his birth as a
Tusita god are placed in the “Distant Epoch” (Dure nidana),
while the account of the Bodhisattva’s descent from the
Tusita heaven to his final emancipation at Bodh Gaya is
treated as the “ Intermediate Epoch” (Avidure nidana). The
early missionary career of the Buddha up to the time of his
meeting with Anathapindika and Visakha at Savatthi is in­
cluded in the “Proximate Epoch-' (Santike nidana).
The “ Distant Epoch” opens with the biography of
Sumedha Brahmana. Sumedha was born at Amaravati in
a wealthy Brahmana family of pure lineage but lost his
parents at an early age. He learned the Brahmanic sciences.
Being dissatisfied with the wealth left by his parents, he gave
it away in charity and became an ascetic, seeking Amata-
mahanibbana which was free from origin and decay, pleasure
and pain, disease and suffering. He realized that everything
1. See Hhy« Davids, Buddhist Birth Storiette pp. 1-2.
in this world had two aspects, positive and negative, and
therefore as an antidote to birth, there must be something,
which was unborn. He was determined to realize it and
went to the Himalayas to meditate. He took up his abode
at the Dhammaka mountain, and lived only on the fruit that
fell from the trees. He soon attained perfection in the five
higher powers (abhinna), and in meditation.
At this time Buddha Dipankara reached the city of
Rammaka in the border country and stopped at Sudassana-
mahavihara. Sumedha-tapasa found everyone busy making
the place neat and tidy, to welcome the Buddha, so he also
came forward to take a share in it. He was charmed by the
glory of the Buddha’s appearance and wanted to lay down
his life for him. Lest the Buddha should soil his feet in
the slush he lay flat on it like a bridge (mani-phalaka-setu) in
order that the Buddha and his disciples, who were all Arhats,
might tread over him. As he lay thus, he wished he could
refrain from achieving his own salvation and become a Bud­
dha himself so that he might be able to rescue endless num­
bers of beings from the stream of existence. Then Dipankara
prophesied that the great ascetic Jatila would become a
Buddha after innumerable aeons and related in detail where
he would be born, how he would attain bodhi and who
his chief disciples would be. The prophecy was confirmed
by many miraculous events including an earthquake and
there was no doubt left that Sumedha was a Buddha-
bijankura, a seedling of the Buddha. He also realized this
fact and ascertained by his higher knowledge (abhinna) that he
must acquire the ten perfections (paramitas) which were
acquired by the previous Bodhisattvas in order to achieve
Buddhahood.
Long after Dipankara Buddha, Buddha Kondanfia ap­
peared at Rammavati-nagara. At that time our Bodhisattva
was reborn as Emperor Vijitavi and gave a large gift to the
Buddha and his Sangha. When the prophecy that he would
become a Buddha was reiterated by Buddha Kondanna, he
listened to his religious discourses and became a recluse. He
 studied the three Pitakas, mastered the eight forms of medi­
tation (samapatti) and obtained the five higher powers
(abhinna). Then he passed away and was reborn in the
Brahmaloka.
In this way the Nidanakatha relates the forms of
existence of the Bodhisattva for each of the next twenty-one
Buddhas, the last three of whom were Kakusandha, Kona-
gamana and Kassapa. The Dure nidana Section ends with
a list of the Jatakas which depict the Bodhisattva’s perfection
in the ten paramitas.
The “ Intermediate Epoch” opens with the existence of
the Bodhisattva as the lord of the Tusita heaven. He was
entreated by the gods to appear in the mortal world to be­
come a Buddha. He agreed and selected the time, place,
family, mother, and limit of life. The rest of the story from
his descent up to the attainment of bodhi follows the tradi­
tions preserved in the Mahavastu and the Lalitavistara.
The “Proximate Epoch” begins with the usual account
of the seven weeks immediately after the attainment of
bodhi. Then follows the acceptance of Tapussa and
Bhallika as lay devotees and the gift of hair relics to them
for the erection of a stupa. There is a reference to the
Buddha's hesitation jn preaching the doctrines, followed by
an account of the Buddha’s visit to Banaras where he con­
vinced the five Brahmana ascetics in turn of the excellence
of his teaching and delivered to them the discourses called
Dhammacakka and Anatta-lakkhana. He then converted
Yasa and his friends so that the number of his disciples rose
to sixty. He sent them in different directions to propagate
his teachings and himself went to Uruvela and converted the
three Jatila Kassapas by his sermon on Fire.
He was invited by King SUddhodana to visit Kapilavastu,
where he performed miracles to convince the Sakyas of his
greatness, and went round the city with his disciples begging
for food. The king and Yasodhara felt aggrieved at the
latter but could not stop him. As Yasodhara remained in
her apartments and would not come out to welcome him.
 the Teacher himself went to her with his four disciples. She
spoke of the sacrifices she had made for the sake o f her
lord. This led to a reference to her former existence as re­
lated in the Canda-Kinnara Jataka.
After this appears the usual account of the ordination of
Rahula and of the crown prince Nanda on the eve of the
latter’s coronation and marriage.
Next comes the episode of the meeting between the
Buddha and Anathapindika at Rajagrha, the purchase of
Jetavana and the construction on it of a monastery. The
biography ends with the Buddha at Sravasti where the mer­
chant Anathapindika. like Visakha, gave away the monastery
to the Sangha of the four quarters, present and future.
II. The Buddha’s Teachings
<i) The Pali Sutta-pitaka
The Buddha's teachings are contained in the Sutta-pitaka
which consists of five Nikayas, namely, the Digha, the
Majjhima, the Samyutta. the Anguttara and the Khuddaka.
The difference in the titles does not always correspond to
the contents except in the case of the Samyutta and the
Anguttara. In the Digha1, there are some long suttas, but
most of them are short, and some even shorter than the
suttas of the Majjhima. It contains two suttas, Sangiti and
Dasuttara, which should have found a place in the
Anguttara. In the Majjhima again there are several suttas
which are longer than many in the Digha. There are certain
groups of suttas. such as the Rajavagga. the Brahmanavagga,
and the Vibharigavagga, which would not have been out of
place in the Samyutta, although it must be admitted that the
method and style of the Majjhima and the Samyutta differ
greatly. In the Samyutta. the grouping of the suttas is
made under a common label without any reference to the
topics. In the Anguttara the title is justified, for the con­
tents are arranged numerically and, at times, the divisions
and sub-divisions have been strained to maintain the numeri­
cal classification. It even includes the Vinaya topics where
they could fit in with the numerical classification. The title
Khuddaka-nikaya is not at all justifiable if by khuddaka is
meant “small”. Perhaps, the intention was that all the
suttas, texts or commentaries, which could not be classified
in any of the four Nikayas, should be grouped together as a
collection of supplementary texts.
The grouping of the suttas into Nikayas does not there­
fore rest on a very rational basis. It may be that the divi­
sion is due to the Bhanaka system prevalent in the early days.
Writing was unknovn then, and so the Buddha’s sayings, as
collected by his disciples, were committed to memory by a
group of monks and were handed down to their disciples
orally. There were probably two such groups, who, in order
to distinguish themselves from each other, became known as
Digha-Bhanakas and Majjhima-Bhanakas. The other two
Nikayas were later developments, their object being only to
rearrange the topics dealt with in the Digha and the
Majjhima. As it is not within the scope of this article to
deal with all the Nikayas separately, a brief account of only
the Digha-nikaya is given.
The Digha-nikaya consists of three books containing
thirty-four suttas, of which about sixteen might be described
as long. The first suttanta, Brahmajala, has two parts,
the first enumerating the superstitious beliefs and popular
games and entertainments, and the second summing up the
various doctrinal and philosophical speculations in vogue at
the time. The second suttanta, Samannaphala. also has two
parts, the first stating the doctrines of the six heretical
teachers and the second the benefits derived in an ascending
order by a monk of the Buddhist Sangha. The next three
suttantas, Ambattha, Sonadanda, and Kutadanta, for the
most part, discuss the injustice of the Brahmanical view
that brahmanas were entitled to certain privileges by birth.
The superiority of the ideal of life envisaged by the Buddha
is also brought out in contrast. The sixth (Mahali), the
seventh (Jaliya), the tenth (Subha), and the twelfth (Lohicca)
suttantas revet t to the topics of Samanflapbala in a slightly
different manner.
The eleventh sutta (Kevatta) shows that the Buddha was
superior to the gods headed by Brahma inasmuch as he
alone was able to answer a question which the gods
were not. We find here Brahma leading the questioner
away and telling him that he could not, in the presence of
other gods, say that he did not know the answer to the
question. He then referred the questioner to the Buddha.
The eighth (Kassapa-sihanada) suttanta speaks of the
various ascetic practices prevalent during the time of the
Buddha, while the ninth (Potthapada) introduces us to the
type of discourses usually delivered to the wanderers (parib-
bajakash Both of these suttantas also refer to the fruits
which the Buddhists acquired through holy practices.
The thirteenth (Tevijja) suttanta refutes the notion that the
Brahmaloka can be reached through the methods prescribed
by the Vedic seers and teaches how one can attain it through
self-restraint and the practice of the four Brahmaviharas,
viz.. love, compassion, joy at the success of others, and
equanimity.
The second book of the Digha-nikaya contains suttantas,
almost all of which have a Maha prefixed to the title. The
first, Mahapadana, deals with the lives of the seven Buddhas
who came before- Gautama Buddha and describes ✓ in detail
the life of Vipassi, which is but a replica of Sakyamuni’s life.
The Mahanidana, as its name implies, gives an exposition
of the Law of Causation and discusses the various forms of
beings. By far the best suttanta of this Nikaya is the Maha-
parinibbana1, which gives a realistic account of the last days
of the Buddha’s life. Particularly important are the names
of the villages through which he passed on his way to
Kusinagara and the last instructions he gave for the well­
being of the Sangha. He stressed the observance of
precepts, meditation, knowledge and emancipation, and laid
down four rules to ascertain the authenticity of Buddha-
1. A fragm entary Sanskrit version of this su tta has been discovered in
Central Asia and deciphered and published by Prof. E. W aldsehraidt (195(0.
vacanas. He also recommended to lay devotees a visit to
Kapilavastu, Gaya, Banaras and Kusinagara. His last words
were: Vayadhammo sahkhara appanuidena sampadetha
(all constituted things are subject to decay and so perform
your duties diligently). The suttanta ends with a vivid ac­
count of the cremation of the Buddha’s body and the division
of his relics.
The main object of the next five suttantas (xvii—xxi)
is to prove that, owing to the fact that many inhabitants
of Kasi-Kosala, Vajji-Malla, Ceti-Vamsa, Kuru-Pancala.
Maccha-Surasena and Ariga-Magadha followed the Buddha’s
teachings, the number of entrants to heaven increased
greatly. Of the five suttantas, the Mahasudassana is an off­
shoot of the Mahaparinibbana and gives an account of the
past greatness of Kusinagara. The Mahagovinda, a story of
the past, is particularly important in that it likens India
to a cart, and divides it into seven provinces, viz., Kalinga.
Potana, Avanti, Sovira, Videha, Ahga and Kasi. This sut­
tanta appears also in the Mahavastu. Like the Tevijja-sut-
tanta, it dilates on the merits of the practice of the four
Brahma-viharas.
The last two suttantas of the volume are the Maha-
satipatthana and the Payasi. In the former the path of mind­
fulness is exhaustively explained. It consists in keeping the
mind (sati) alert (upatthana) to what is happening to one’s
body and feelings. It also exhorts one to perform the duties
and to acquire the virtues prescribed by the Buddha. The
other suttanta is named after a Khattiya teacher and philo­
sopher called Payasi, who upheld the materialistic doctrine
that there was no rebirth after death, and that the acts of
a being, good or bad, were not productive of any effects.
This view was refuted by Kumara Kassapa, a distinguished
disciple of the Buddha.
The third volume contains eleven suttantas, of which the
first four (xxiv— xxvii) deal mainly with non-Buddhistic
views and ascetic practices. This suttanta reiterates from
the Brahmajala-suttanta, some of the non-Buddhistic views
about the beginning of the world. The next suttanta, the
Udumbarika-sThanada, speaks of some of the evil effects of
rigorous ascetic practices while the Cakkavatti-sihanada
admonishes the Buddhists to be self-reliant and make the
Dhamma their sole reiuge. Although the Buddha disap­
proved of any speculation regarding the origin of the world,
the Agganna-suttanta explains how the world began, and
denounces the Brahmana’s claim to superiority by birth.
The next two suttantas. the SampasadanTya and the
Pasadika, contain the gist of the Buddha’s teachings and
moral instructions. The latter suttanta was delivered when
dissension occurred among the followers of Nigantha Nata­
putta soon after his death, and contains (i) a reference to a
view of Uddaka Ramaputta, (ii) an exposition of the term
“sukhallikanuyoga” appearing in the Dhammacakkappavat-
tana-sutta, and (iii) a justification for leaving some questions
unanswered as did the Teacher.
The Lakkhana-suttanta discusses in detail the acts by
which a person acquires the thirty-two signs of great men.
The Sirigalovada-suttanta is very important in view of
the fact that it is the only comprehensive discourse delivered
by the Buddha for the benelit of the lay devotees. It is
regarded by some scholars as the source of Asoka’s Dhamma.
The Atanatiya-suttanta is described as a magic spell for the
protection of lonely monks from evil-minded yaksas.
The last two suttantas summarize the teachings of the
Buddha as in the Ariguttara-nikaya. Of these, the Dasut*
tara. which is the last, follows the catechetical method.

(ii) The Dhammapada

We may add a few words here about the Dhammapada
which belongs to world literature. It is equally popular in
Buddhist and non-Buddhist countries, as it contains ideas of
universal appeal besides being a manual of Buddhist teach­
ings. It consists of 423 verses arranged according to topics
into 26 vaggas or chapters and is learnt by heart by young
monks in the Buddhist countries of South Asia. Its versified
 form makes it easy to commit to memory.
Dhammapada means religious word or saying and we
find it used in this sense in the book itself (44, 45). The
Buddhists say that the teachings of the Buddha are briefly
contained in this book, since it discusses the essential prin­
ciples of Buddhist philosophy and the Buddhist way
of life.
This little manual, like many other Buddhist works, con­
demns all kinds of sacrifice and the ascetic practices of self­
mortification. and its main stress is on good conduct (sila).
stabilized by concentration (samadhi) and strengthened by
sound reasoning (pafina). The teaching of the Buddhas in a
nutshell is: “Abstain from all evil; accumulate what is good
and purify your mind.” (183.) Which religion would not
agree with this? According to this teaching, all compound
things are transitory, full of suffering and, consequently, in­
capable of being called one's own (anatta). People are
exhorted not to look to the external attraction of things, but
to take cognizance of their unpleasant aspects. It recognizes
ignorance (avidya) as being the highest form of impurity (243)
and holds that the suffering in this world can be brought to
an end only by the destruction of craving or hankering.
Greed, ill-will and delusion are considered as dangerous as
fire, and unless they are held in check, it is not possible to
attain a happy life.
And to achieve a happy state of life one must avoid the
two extremes —indulgence in a life of pleasure and the prac­
tices of self-mortification. One must follow the Middle Path
— the Noble Eightfold Path of the Buddhas which is based
on the Buddhist Trinity of the Buddha, the Dhamma and
the,Sangha. According to the Dhammapada. the attainment
of the different stages on the Buddhist Path is to be preferred
even to the possession of the whole world (178). It enjoins
all beings to develop those factors of enlightenment which
would enable them to cultivate the mind. It emphasizes the
principle that one makes or mars oneself, and that no one
else can help one to rid oneself of impurity. A man must
 exert himself. Even the Buddhas are of little help because
like signposts they can only guide you (276). It recommends
a life of peace and non-violence (129-30, 142), and declares
that enmity can never be overcome by enmity but by kind­
ness (5). Its advice is to conquer anger by cool-headedness,
evil by good, miserliness by generosity, and falsehood by
truth (223). It also enjoins men not to speak harshly to
others, as they in their turn are likely to do the same (133).
This little book is of considerable literary merit. It
abounds in appropriate similes which touch the heart. While
recommending to a Buddhist monk a spotless life and a life
of non-interference in the politics of a town or village it
says: “It is better for a monk to eat a red hot iron ball than
to live a life of non-restraint.” (308.) “The monk should go
to a village to take his food and go away without meddling
in the affairs of the town, just like a bee that goes to the
flower, sucks the honey but does no harm to the colour or
smell of the flower.” (49.) A man who reads much good
literature but never tries to bring it into practice is compared
to a cowherd who counts the number of cows that go to
pasture under his care, but has no proprietary right in any
of them (19). When a young man in the prime of life
among his own people is snatched away by death, the author
uses the simile of a flood washing away the whole of the
village that is asleep (287). A man who becomes entangled
in his own doings is compared to a spider who finds itself
enmeshed in its own web (347).
There are, besides, many verses which contain universal
truths—truths for all times and for all countries. For
instance:
“It is easier to do evil and harmful things than to do
good and salutary things.” (163.)
“There are only a few people in this world who have an
insight: most of them are blind.” (174.)
“To be born as a human being is indeed a rare thing.”
(182.)
“One should never belittle evil things saying that they
will never affect one.
A water jar becomes, in course of time, full by a constant
dripping of water.” (121, 122.)
“It is easy to see the faults of others but not so easy to see
one’s own.” (252.)
“The smell of flowers goes only with the wind, but the
fame (lit. smell) of good men goes even against the wind.” (54.)
“This is a thing of old and not of the present day—that
people blame one who is silent, or one who talks too much,
or even one who is moderate in his speech. There is none
in this world who is not blamed! ” (227.)
How telling are these sayings!
It is on account of such gems of literary merit and univer­
sal appeal that this little book has been translated into a
number of languages in Asia and Europe.

(iii) The Sanskrit Saddharma-pundarika

The Saddharma-pundarika is one of the earliest texts of

Mahayana Buddhism. It is composed partly in prose and
partly in verse. As is usual with early Mahayana texts, the
language of the prose portion is in fairly good Sanskrit while
the veise is in mixed Sanskrit. In view of its Buddhological
conceptions and linguistic characteristics, the date of its
composition should be placed a little after that of the Maha­
vastu and the Lalitavistara, that is, about the first century
A.D. Its earliest Chinese translations were made by Dhar-
maraksa in 286 A.D. and by Kumarajiva in 383 A.D. Two
centuries later (601 A.D.), Jnanagupta and Dharmagupta
also translated it. According to Nanjio, there were eight or
nine Chinese translations of this text, of which only the above
mentioned three are extant. It formed the main scripture
of a few Chinese and Japanese Buddhist sects, particularly
the Tendai and the Nichiren sects of Japan, and it is recited
in all the temples of the Zen (Dhyana) sect.1
This text represents the period of transition from Hina-
1. See appendix to Chapter VI.
yana to Mahayana Buddhism. A large part of the book is
devoted to proving that Hinayana Buddhism was preached
by the Buddhas for the benefit of people of lower intelli­
gence and modest aims, to whom the whole truth was not
divulged. Hinayana Buddhists were advised to practise the
thirty-seven Bodhipaksiya dharmas, i.e., dharmas conducive
to enlightenment, in order to rid themselves of moral im­
purities (klesavarana), to comprehend the Four Truths and
the Law of Causation, and to realize pudgala-Sunyata or
anatman (absence of soul or individuality) whereby they
could reach a place of temporary rest (nirvana). This text
then points out that the Hinayanists, who had reached per­
fection in these attainments, were advised to exert them­
selves further in their future existences in order to acquire
the merits and virtues prescribed for the Bodhisattvas for
the attainment of Buddhahood. They were required to
realize dharma-sunyata (non-existence of phenomenal objects)
and dharma-samata (sameness of all objects) whereby their
Jneyavarana (the veil covering the Truth) would be removed
and they would become Samyak-Sambuddhas.
The question may be asked, why the Buddhas should
preach two kinds of truth. The text explains that the truth
preached for the Hinayanists was only an expedient (upSLya-
kausalya) resorted to by the Buddhas in order to attract
beings of lower intellect to their doctrines with the ultimate
object of leading them to the highest knowledge. It asserts
that there is only one yana (way) for complete emancipa­
tion and not three. Sravakayana. Pratyekabuddhayana and
Bodhisattvayana, the three paths, were only expedients
of the Buddhas to lead different types of beings to the ulti­
mate truth. That this was so is clear from the fact that
several well-known figures of the Hinayana school were
assured that they would all become Buddhas in the long
run.
The Saddharma-pundarika is divided into twenty-seven
chapters. In the first, the text is introduced as a Maha-
vaipulya-sutra, delivered by previous Buddhas, and handed
down to Dipankara by Varaprabha Bodhisattva, a previous
incarnation of MafijuSn. In the second chapter, the Buddha
points out that the highest truth can be realized by the
Tathagatas only within themselves and was not to be com­
municated to others. It is thus beyond the reach not only
of sravakas and Pratyekabuddhas but also of Bodhisattvas
of the highest bhumi (avaivartika). The Buddha admits that
for the sake of beings who believe in the existence of the
world and its sufferings, he imparted his teachings in nine
angas (divisions) and taught them how to attain nirvana.
He initiated only the advanced Bodhisattvas into the deeper
teachings which lead to Buddhahood. In this chapter, the
Buddha refers to his hesitation in preaching his doctrines
and to the intervention of Brahma at which he changed his
mind. In the third and fourth chapters, there are two most
interesting stories which show that the compassionate Bud­
dhas could not be partial to anybody and that they were
as solicitous of the welfare of the Sravakas as of that of the
Bodhisattvas. In the fifth chapter, the Buddha is compared
to a cloud and the sun, raining and shining over all without
any discrimination. The meaning of nirvana is then explained
as the realization of the sameness of all objects. The
nirvana of the Sravakas is only a respite (viSrama) and is not
the ultimate nirvrti (quietude).
Sakyasirpha announces1 that several Hinayana Arhats and
non-Arhats would become Buddhas in the long run, and then
declares that in one of his previous existences, he had re­
ceived this sutra from a hermit, who was reborn as Deva­
datta subsequently. He foresaw that there would be persons
who would speak ill of this sOtra and thereby commit grave
sins. With a number of similes he exalts the sOtra and
enjoins the faithful to erect stupas at the site where this
sutra would be delivered and to honour it with the same
devotion they would bestow on a caitya housing the Bud­
dha’s relics2.
1. Saddharm a-pundarika, Chapters V I, V III, IX and X II.
2. Ibid., Chapters X , X I, X III and X IV .
 In the next two chapters, it is said that the length of
life of the Buddhas is unlimited and that this might not be
believed by all, particularly by the Hinayanists who hold
that the Buddha attained bodhi at Gaya and lived for forty
years after his emancipation. The Buddha asserts that it
was he who created Dipankara Buddha and the other Bud­
dhas and caused them to deliver discourses on Arya-satyas
and Pratitya-samutpada. Again, it was he who made them
attain parinirvana for the benefit of those whose mental
equipment was not of a high order, and likewise caused them
to deliver discourses on the param itas and Tathagata-jnana
for the benefit of the Bodhisattvas who had higher aims.
The remaining chapters are devoted mostly to the re­
counting of merit acquired by a being for reciting, propa­
gating and appreciating the sutra.
A digression is made in Chapter X X IX , where Avalokit-
esvara Bodhisattva is introduced and eulogized. It is said
that anyone uttering the words, Namo-namas tasmai abhayam-
dada avalokitcsvardya bodhisattvdya mahdsattvaya, would be
saved from all calamities of shipwreck, fire, or moral impurity,
as this Bodhisattva would take the forms of the beings he is
to save and deliver them from all troubles.
The text ends with the Buddha’s exhortation to all to
preserve and propagate the sutra. He says, “ I bequeath
unto you this Samyaka-sambodhi and entrust you with the
responsibility of propagating it far and wide, thereby be­
coming the donors of Buddha knowledge.”

HI. The B uddhas Disciplinary Code

V inaya-pitaka
All the disciplinary rules framed for the conduct and
guidance of the Buddhist monks and nuns are collected in the
Vinaya-pitaka, The Buddhist order of monks was organized
wholly on a democratic basis. The Buddha nominated no
successor and wanted his followers to perform all ecclesiasti­
cal acts and duties according to his instructions. It was, of
course, not possible for the Buddha to lay down all the rules
in anticipation of what the unrighteous monks might do to
evade or misinterpret them. Hence, the Vinaya-pitaka, as it
stands today, is a growth of centuries out of the basic rules for­
mulated by the Teacher himself. In the Pali Canon, this
Pitaka is divided into five parts1 which are arranged in the
following m anner: (A) K handhakas: (i) Mahavagga, and (ii)
Cullavagga; (B) Sutta-vibhanga: (iii) Parajika to Nissaggiya
and (iv) Pacittiya to Sekhiya and Bhikkhuni-vibhanga; and
(C) (v) Parivara. This arrangement holds good for a picture
of the growth of the Buddhist Sangha but does not indi­
cate the chronological growth of the Pitaka. Both from the
contents and quaintness of the Pali language it can
safely be asserted that the Patimokkha-sutta was the earliest
composition. In the present edition the sutta does not
appear separately but is included in the Sutta-vibhanga, where
it appears as the text for purposes of comment. The
Sutta-vibhanga was no doubt written at a subsequent date
and contains many additions like the case laws of a modern
law book. The Mahfivagga traces the growth of the Sangha
from its inception and is thus rightly the first book of the
Pitaka. Its contents and style of composition, however,
reveal a date later than that of the Sutta-vibhanga. The Cul­
lavagga contains many topics which should form the closing
part of the Pitaka. It describes in detail the manner in
which an ecclesiastical punishment is to be inflicted and
accepted by the guilty. It also contains some general rules
regarding the daily life of the monks, the proper place for
which is in the Mahavagga. It seems that the Cullavagga
was either a much later compilation than the Mahavagga or
that it incorporated those topics which, in the opinion of
the compilers, could not be included in any other part.
Accounts of two Buddhist Synods, one of which was held
a century after the Buddha's demise, are also included. The
last part, the Parivara, is a mnemonic manual for the
use of the monks. Its object is to help the monks not
only to remember the rules but also to be aware of the facts
1, Se© table on j». 140.
 and circumstances which would bring a monk within the
orbit of the rules.
(i) The Patimokkha-sutta.—The Patimokkha (Skt. Prati-
moksa-sutra) forms the nucleus of the Vinaya-pitaka. It is the
oldest part of the Pali Pitaka and its language appears to be
older than that of the Nikayas. Two complete Sanskrit ver­
sions of this text have been discovered, one at Kuca,
published by Louis Finot in Journal Asiatique, 1913, and the
other at Gilgit, published by A. C. Banerji in Indian Historical
Quarterly, 1953. Besides these two several fragments of
the text have been published by La Vallee Poussin and a
fragmentary text of the Bhiksuni-pratimoksa-sutra by E.
Waldschmidt. In the Jayaswal Research Institute there is
a photographic copy of the Pratimoksa-sutra of the Maha­
sanghikas. The greater antiquity of the text is established
by the references made to this text in the Nikayas, particular­
ly in the Majjhima and the Anguttara. It seems to be the
earliest manual of disciplinary rules compiled for the
guidance of monks and nuns.
The Patimokkha consists of two parts, namely, the
Bhikkhu-patimokkha and the Bhikkhuni-patimokkha. for
monks and nuns respectively. The offences that may be com­
mitted by monks and nuns have been classified according to
their gravity. The worst offences grouped under the heading
Parajika, which entailed the expulsion of the guilty from the
community of monks, are (i) lack of continence, (ii) theft,
(iii) murder or abetment of murder, and (iv) exaggeration
of one’s power to perform miracles, etc. The next group
of offences, mentioned under the heading Sarighadisesa
(Sanghavasesa) entailed temporary suspension of the offending
monks. They could be re-admitted to the Sangha if found
admissible by a chapter of at least twenty monks. It mentions
thirteen offences arising out of the relation between
monks and women, the construction of a hermitage, false ac­
cusations, dissensions in the Sangha, and obstinacy. The
third section, called the Aniyata (uncertain), speaks of two
cases which require circumstantial evidence to ascertain the
 offence. The fourth section is the Nissaggiya-pacittiya which
deals with twenty-six offences that can be committed by a
monk who appropriates certain articles of use which were
not permissible. The offending monks could be absolved
if they parted with the article in question (nissaggiya-
naihsargika) and confessed their guilt (pacittiya payantika).
The fifth section, entitled Pacittiya, enumerates ninety-two
offences relating to careless acts leading to insecti­
cide, to lack of respect for the Buddhist teachings and
disciplinary code and to non-compliance with the directions
given in the latter, and lastly to indiscreet acts in the use of
beds, seats, robes, etc., while dwelling in a monastery. The
sixth section, called Patidesanlya, speaks of only four
offences relating to a monk’s taking food which has not been
offered to him. Absolution from all the offences mentioned
in these two sections can be obtained by a formal confession
of guilt before the Sangha. The seventh section. Sekhiya
(Saiksa), gives seventy-five instructions to be observed by a
monk in his daily life, for instance, how he must enter
a village or a town, take food inoffensively, enter a sick room,
and so on. These are not treated as offences and no punish­
ment is therefore prescribed for them. The last section is
called the Adhikarana-samatha or the means of settling dis­
putes within the Sangha. There are seven of these. The
first is to place the two quarrelling monks face to face, the
second to make one admit that his memory had failed in re­
gard to the point of dispute, while the third is to make a
monk admit that he was not in his normal mind when the
point of dispute arose. The fourth relates to the formality of
confession, the fifth to the use of salaka (voting sticks), the
sixth to prevarication and punishment for it. and the last to
the avoidance of publicity to a dispute within the Sangha.
(ii) The Sutta-vibhanga.—The Sutta-vibhanga is a com­
mentary on the Patimokkha-sutta. It opens with an account
of a famine at Veranja when the Buddha visited the place.
The famine was of such intensity that the people had to resort
to rationing (saldkavutti). The Buddha then left Veranja
 and passed through Soreyya, Samkassa, K annakujja, and
reached Payaga, where he crossed the Ganga and reached
Banaras. From Banaras he went to Vesali and stopped at
M ahavana Kutagarasala.
Near Vesali was the village of Kalandaka, where there
lived a rich banker, whose son, Sudinna, listened to the
Buddha’s discourses at Vesali and became his disciple. At
that time a famine broke out in the land of the Vajjis. As
Sudinna had many rich friends and relatives at Vesali, he
decided to go there, so that he and his brethren might obtain
ample alms. One day Sudinna went on a begging round in
his own village and asked for the kummasa (rice-junket)
which the maidservant of his parents was about to throw
away. When his mother heard the news of his arrival, she
persuaded his wife to meet him and beg for a son. Sudinna
granted her wish and went back to his monastery, became
repentant and reported the matter to his fellow brethren.
When this was brought to the notice of the Buddha, he re­
primanded the erring monk severely and laid down a rule
that if a monk committed sexual indulgence, he would be
guilty of parajika, and thus become unfit to be a monk. This
is the first rule of the Patimokkha.
In the manner indicated above, each rule was framed by
the Buddha to deal with the failings of the monks. The
stories of such lapses do not, however, represent actual inci­
dents but were usually inventions of the commentator. The
commentator then explained the rule in detail. A part from
the comments made on the phraseology of the rules, there are
many discussions on what a female is; what would happen
if a change of sex occurs1; the probable ways of sexual in­
dulgence and related subjects. The cases of sexual indulgen­
ces which do not come within the purview of the rule are
also discussed.

1. On t-hls interesting problem, see P. V. B apat’s paper on “ Change of

Sex in Buddhist L iteratu re” Hubmitted to the 18th Session of the A ll-India
Oriental Conference (Pali and Buddhism Section); see also the sum mary of
papers of that Session and Dr. S. K. Belwalkar’s Commemoration Volume.
 The second rule deals with theft which also involved the
expulsion of the guilty from the community of monks. The
subject is introduced through the story of the monk Dhaniya.
a potter’s son, who collected wood without anybody’s per­
mission to build his hermitage. In commenting upon the
words of the rule, the commentator has discussed the defini­
tions of an article and of theft. At the end he has pointed
out the forms of taking things which do not come within the
purview of the rule.
The other two rules of the Parajika have been dealt with
likewise, covering in all over 109 pages of the third volume
of the Vinaya-pitaka .1
The first rule of Sanghadiscsa was laid down at Savatthi,
where a monk called Seyyasaka committed self-abuse. The
commentator enumerates the various ways in which such in­
dulgences can take place and come within the purview of the
rule as well as those cases which deserve exemption.
The second rule of the Sarighadisesa lays down that a
monk must not come in close touch with the body of a
woman. This rule was laid down at Savatthi, near which in a
forest dwelt a monk. UdayT, who touched a briihmani when
she visited his hermitage.
The commentator first raises the questions, “whether such
contact was intentional or accidental”, “ what contact actually
is”, and ends with the statement that such contact with one's
mother, sister or daughter does not come within the purview
of the rule.
The same monk is cited as the cause of the subsequent
three rules. The commentator discusses various types of
girls and wives, the various circumstances in which a monk
commits offences under these rules and what constitutes
an exception. The rest of the rules are illustrated, comment­
ed upon and elaborated in the same way.
In commenting on the Nissaggiya-pacittiya section, the
enthusiasm of the commentator seems to have abated to a
large extent. He does not discuss many cases which may
1. Oldenberg’s edit ion.
or may not come within the purview of the rules. The
exemptions allowed are stated in very general terms. For
instance, if a monk has an unbalanced mind, or is the first
in the Sangha to commit the offence, or if the circumstances
are such that the breach of the rule is inevitable, he need not
be considered guilty of the breach of any of the rules.
The comments on the ninety-two rules of pacittiya open
with an account of Hatthaka, a Sakyan monk, who deliberate­
ly made false statements in a disputation with the heretics.
This led the Buddha to lay down the rule that anyone utter­
ing falsehoods wittingly is guilty of pacittiya. The commen­
tator details the circumstances in which the offence takes
place. The second rule was occasioned by the Chabbaggiya
monks who spoke disparagingly of the other monks. The
commentator illustrates the evil effects of such words by the
story of the bull, Nandivisala, and in the process of deciding
whether the words were disrespectful or not, he enumerates
the various castes, professions and qualities which set a
person or a monk high or low in the estimation of the
common people.
The four rules of the Patidesaniya and the seventy-five
rules of the Sekhiya have been concisely commented upon
while the seven ways of settling disputes have been passed
over without any comment whatsoever.
(iii) The Bhikkhuni vibhahga.—There are seven groups
of offences in the BhikkhunT-vibhanga. These range from
Parajika to Adhikarana-samatha (settlement of disputes),
and are arranged according to their gravity.
The first section on Parajika includes four rules in addi­
tion to the four prescribed in the Bhikkhu-patimokkha. In
commenting on the fifth rule, namely, that a nun with a lustful
mind must not rub or touch the middle part of a male’s
body, the commentator tells the story of Sajha, the grandson
of Migara. who managed to meet young Sundarinanda
Bhikkhuni and exposed her to the aforementioned offence.
Then follow comments on the words of the rules in detail
but cases which may or may not come within the purview
of the rule are not cited. The commentator only mentions
the exceptional cases as usual. The other three rules are
similarly commented upon.
In the second section, or the Sanghadisesa, seven rules
are taken from the Bhikkhu-patimokkha. The other ten
are specially prescribed for the community of nuns. The
first rule instructs a nun to shun legal suits. This was occa­
sioned by a will left by a lay devotee who gave away a
portion of his property to the nunnery. It was disputed and
the matter was placed before the Law Minister (Voharika-
mahamatta) for decision. The second rule enjoins a nun to
disclose to the proper authorities any information that she
may have concerning a theft. Here the proper authorities are
raja, Sangha, gana, pOga and seni. The next eight rules
restrict the nuns from moving about alone, from coming into
contact with men, from quarrelling and from showing lack
of respect to the Triratna. The comments are confined to
the words of the rules only.
Of the thirty rules in the Nissaggiya-pacittiya, which is
the third section, eighteen are taken from the Bhikkhu-
patimokkha. The first rule refers to the habit of some nuns
to collect begging bowls. The commentator describes differ­
ent types of bowls and offers advice on what a nun should do
to avoid committing the offence. The next rule relates to the
irregularities in the distribution of robes. The following
eight rules deal with prevarications by nuns in the matter of
their requirements. The eleventh and twelfth rules prohibit
a nun from asking for a woollen robe worth more than four
kamsas which are equivalent to sixteen kahapanas or for a
khoma robe worth more than two and a half kamsas or ten
kahapanas.
In the fourth section, on the Pacittiya, the commentator
comments on ninety-six out of one hundred and sixty-six
rules. The rules relate to various matters concerning lapses
common to women.
In the fifth section, the Patidesaniya, the nuns are for­
bidden to take clarified butter, oil, honey, molasses, fish.
meat, condensed milk and curds.
The sixth and seventh sections, Sekhiya and Adhikarana-
samatha. are taken from the Bhikkhu-patimokkha.
(iv) The Khandhakas.—The Khandhakas are divided into
two parts, the Mahavagga and the Cullavagga. The topics
dealt with in the two parts have not always had a clear dis­
tinction. besides lacking sequence, and so some of the chap­
ters of the Mahavagga and the Cullavagga have been put
together here to enable the reader to have an idea of the
subject as dealt with in both the parts.
Among the manuscript finds at Gilgit in Kashmir, a
portion of the Vinaya-pitaka of the Mula-sarvastivadins was
discovered. This manuscript has been published and throws
a flood of light on the growth of the Vinaya-pitaka. The
order of the chapters in this manuscript is as follows:
(i) Pravrajya, (ii) Posadha, (iii) Pravarana, (iv) Varsa, and
(v) Carma1. (vi) Bhaisajya-, (vii) Civara, (viii) Kathina, (ix)
Kosambaka, and (x) Karma', (xi) Pandulohitaka, (xii) Pudgala,
(xiii) Parivasika, (xiv) Posadhasthapana, (xv) Sayanasana4,
and (xvi) Sanghabheda5. To introduce Devadatta, the chief
figure of the Saiighabhedavastu, the compiler of the Sanskrit
Vinaya-pitaka has started the biography of the Buddha
from Prince Siddhartha's vision of the four stages of human
beings, and carried the story up to his visit to Kapilavastu
and the conversion of the Sakyan youths including Devadatta
In the Pali Vinaya-pitaka, the biography is put at the begin-
ning^of the Mahavagga, while the story of the conversion of
the Sakyan youths is placed in the seventh chapter of the Cul­
lavagga. On comparing the Pali and Sanskrit texts, it ap­
pears that the compilers of the two versions have depended
upon an older model and made sporadic variations in the
arrangement and the detail of the accounts. Both of them

1. See Gilgit Manuscripts, Vol. I l l , part iv.

2. Ibid., part i.
3. Ibid., part ii.
4. Ibid., p art iii.
5. Ibid., p art iv, pp. 211-255.
preserve substantially the same traditions and disciplinary
rules, the only difference being that while the Sanskrit ver­
sion reproduces stories and episodes extensively, the Pali
version has avoided doing so as far as possible.
The Mahavagga can well be described as the history of
the development of the Buddhist Sangha. It opens with an
account of the Buddha’s life from the day he attained bodhi
on the bank of the Niranjana and carries the story up to the
conversion of Yasa and his fifty-four friends including
Vimala, Subahu, Punnaji and Gavampati who were despatch­
ed in different directions to preach the Dharma. However,
these young, untrained missionaries were not capable of decid­
ing on the type of persons fit for admission to the Sangha.
For the guidance of such disciples, the Buddha laid down
elaborate rules, as and when occasion arose, relating to the
ordination of a newcomer.
The second chapter of the text is devoted to the institution
of a fortnightly assembly, usually known as Uposatha
(Posadha). If anyone was found guilty of a serious offence,
he was not permitted to stay in this assembly. This had
also been dealt with in the ninth chapter of the Cullavagga
under the sub-heading, Patimokkha-thapanam (laying aside,
i.e., not holding the Patimokkha assembly). One of the con­
ditions of these assemblies was that all monks living within a
parish must be present at the meeting held at a particular
monastery. In case of sickness the monk concerned was re­
quired to depute a proxy, whose duty was to declare his faults
of omission or commission if any. Strictness on this score
led to the necessity of defining the boundaries of a parish, and
so elaborate rules had to be laid down for the determination
of such boundaries and such determination also had to be
declared at a formal meeting of the Sangha by moving the
resolution three times and having it passed unanimously.
The third and fourth chapters deal with the monk’s
residence during the rains and the ceremony to be performed
at the close of the Vassavasa. The monks were asked to be
generally itinerant as the chances of a lapse would be greater
if they resided at one place for a long time. But during the
three months of the rainy season the monks were for many
reasons directed to remain at a fixed abode. This practice
was known as Vassavasa. It was also observed by the Jaina
and other recluses of the Buddha’s time. There were, how­
ever, some occasions which urgently needed the presence of
a monk outside the limit of his abode. Accordingly, a monk
was allowed to go outside his limits for one week. Lest the
monks should misuse this privilege, specific purposes are
mentioned for which this permission could be granted. This
topic concludes with the enumeration of circumstances which
justify the ending of the Vassavasa before the appointed time.
During the Vassavasa, the monks were expected to live in
concord and observe the disciplinary rules. As this was not
always possible, the Teacher prescribed that at the end of the
Vassavasa the monks should meet in assembly and declare
their acts of omission and commission. The formalities to
be observed in the assembly are the same as those prescribed
for the Uposatha ceremony. Such an assembly at the end
of the Vassavasa was called Pavarana. There are many
instances of irregularities, to remedy which the Teacher
framed several rules.
Part of the Pavarana ceremony was the distribution of
robes collected on the closing day. It was called the Kathina
ceremony.1 On the day of Pavarana, the laity offered un­
sewn cloth to the resident monks. It was laid down that if
the Sangha received such offers, the monks were expected to
meet and declare formally that they were going to celebrate
the Kathina ceremony. The main function of this ceremony
was to entrust certain monks with the cutting, sewing and
dyeing of the robes, and all this was to be finished in one
day. When the robes were ready, they were distributed
among the residents. There were, however, cases of doubt­
ful claimants, and so rules were framed to determine who
was really entitled to a share of the robes.
The fifth chapter opens with the story of Sona Kojivisa,
1. See Mah&vagga, Chapter V IJ.
the son of a very wealthy man. His body was so delicate
that hairs grew even on the soles of his feet. He was given
ordination by the Teacher himself. As a monk he walked
barefoot while performing religious exercises. His feet bled
and stained the places he walked on. The Buddha then asked
him to put on shoes but he demurred that as a monk it would
not be proper for him to do so. This led the Buddha to
allow the use of shoes to all monks and he prescribed certain
forms of shoes that could be used by the monks.
The sixth chapter discusses the medicines permissible to
sick monks and nuns. It relates how, at the instance of
jlvaka, the famous physician, the Buddha allowed the sick
monks to have all the medical and surgical aids they re­
quired. This chapter contains a very interesting account of
surgical operations and instruments, of drugs and their pre­
paration, of containers and store-houses for medicines, and
lastly, of medical aids such as hot baths and special diets
which included fruit and fruit juice, milk products and some­
times meat broth. Reference is also made to Jivaka’s skill
in surgery and medicine. An account of the visit of the
Buddha to Pataligama, taken almost verbatim from the
Mahaparinibbana-sutta, is also included.
Gradually the monks were permitted to enjoy not only
medical aid but also many other amenities of life, which arc
detailed in the Cullavagga.
Detailed descriptions of monasteries fitted with doors,
windows and other necessary adjuncts constructed by the
laity for the use of the monks of the four quarters are given
in the sixth chapter of the Cullavagga. The construction of
the monasteries, according to the Vinaya rules, was supervised
by a monk called Navakammika* These monasteries were
furnished with seats and beds of an austere type. In this
connection, the story of the gift of the Jetavana monastery has
been introduced, and with it is given an account of how
Anathapindika met the Buddha at Rajagrha and became a
devotee.
In the fifth chapter of the Cullavagga there are several
directions relating to baths, the monk’s begging bowls, scissors
and needles, girdles, latrines, urinals, slings to carry bowls,
shoes, hair-cutting, and so on. Incidentally it is mentioned
that the monks must not sing the gathas aloud, or exhibit
the power of miracles if they possessed any. and should turn
down their bowls at the houses of laymen who were not
sufficiently respectful to the Triratna.
The last two chapters of the Mahavagga are devoted to
irregularities in ecclesiastical acts. A minimum number of
monks is fixed for the performance of different ecclesiastical
duties or acts.
As the Cullavagga is a continuation of the Mahavagga,
it takes up, in the first four chapters, the different punishments
prescribed in the Vinaya-pitaka and gives instructions as to
how the monks should behave when undergoing punishment.
In the eighth chapter the resident monks of a monastery
are instructed how to receive monks from other places or
forests and to look after their comforts.
The seventh chapter is devoted to an account of the
dissensions that were about to break out within the Sangha
during the Buddha's lifetime. As Devadatta, a Sakyan re­
lative of the Teacher, turned out to be the leader of the dis­
sentient monks, the chapter gives, by way of an introduction,
an account of the conversion of the Sakyan youths, namely.
Anuruddha, Bhaddiya. sakyaraja, Ananda. Bhagu, Kimbila
and Devadatta, and their barber. Upali.
Devadatta joined hands with Ajatasatru and made a
heinous attempt on the Buddha’s life by hiring a gang of
ruffians, by using a stone, and an elephant. Devadatta at
last found a few friends and demanded that the Sangha
should make the following five rules compulsory for all monks,
viz., that the monks were (i) to live only in forests, (ii) to
subsist on alms, (iii) to dress in robes made out of rags, (iv) to
dwell under a tree and never under a roof, and (v) never to
eat fish or flesh. When his demand was rejected by the
Buddha, he formed a band of his own from amongst the
Vajjiputtaka monks of Vesali. The chapter concludes with
a note on the conditions in which an actual dissension in the
Sangha would be regarded as a Sanghabheda .1
The tenth chapter relates the story of the formation of the
Order of nuns at the instance of Mahaprajapati Gautami
and the mediation of Ananda. The Buddha very reluc­
tantly agreed to its formation and imposed eight disabilities
(garudhamma) on the nuns. At first the Teacher wanted the
nuns to depend on the monks for all their ecclesiastical acts,
and also receive from them instruction on Vinaya as well as
on Dhamma, but it was found that sometimes the monks were
not wise and discreet in the discharge of their duties to the
nuns. This led the Buddha to permit the nuns to perform
most of their ecclesiastical acts themselves, and rules of pro­
cedure were laid down for them. In this chapter there are
detailed instructions to check the frivolities of the female
sex regarding dress, toilet, beds, seats, and so on.
The last two chapters, which, strictly speaking, should
not have formed a part of the Cullavagga. contain a full
description of the first two Councils, held at Sattapanniguha
of Rajagaha and Valikarama of Vesali. The main object
of the first two Councils was to make an authoritative
compilation of the Buddha’s sayings. It was presided over
by Mahakassapa. Ananda taking th t responsibility of recit­
ing the discourses delivered by the Buddha, and Upali the
disciplinary rules framed by the Teacher. This compila­
tion was accepted by the monks in general with a few
exceptions. The second Council was held a hundred years
later. Its main purpose was to suppress the deviations
made by the Vajjiputtaka monks of Vesali in' some of the
disciplinary rules. The deviations were declared illegal by
a committee of eight monks, of whom four were selected
from the orthodox monks of the western countries and four
from the dissident party of the eastern countries. Not all
the monks, however, accepted the findings of this commit­
tee and a new sect, well known as the Mahasanghikas, came
into existence.
 Buddhist Education

Education as one of the functions or activities of a State

is a concept of purely modern growth. In Europe in olden
times it was a function of the Christian Church; in India
it was that of her diverse religious orders and organizations
which devised their own educational systems. Of these, the
Brahmanical system is the most ancient. Its educational
tradition, dating back to the Vedic age and followed in this
country up to the present time, is essentially based on an
individual teacher with his small group of disciples and
pupils—the gurugrha (the Teacher’s House) as it is termed.
The tradition of the Buddhist system, on the other hand,
is monastic: it functioned within the regimen of monastic
life.
The difference is significant: it led in India to different
lines of evolution. “The necessity of a domestic environ­
ment in the Brahmanical system”, observes Prof. Mookerji,
“did not favour the expansion of the small school under an
individual teacher into a large educational federation, con­
trolled by a collective body of teachers, as was the charac­
teristic of the Buddhist system .”1 Hence the latter gave
birth to those large-scale monastic universities, with thou­
sands of teachers and students in the congregation, which
during the last three to four centuries of Buddhism in India
were famous all over Asia and attracted students from
various parts of the continent. These latter-day universities

1. Ancient Education, 2nd ed., p. 460.

like Nalanda, Valabhi, Vikramasila,1 Jagaddala and Odanta­
puri represent in fact the last term of an evolution that had
continued for well over a millennium and a half. Its
history comes to us through the centuries, dispersed and in
glimpses, from early books of the Buddhist Canon, and
then, with a vast yawning gap of many centuries, from
Chinese and Tibetan records, sometimes, but rarely, cross­
lighted by such casual information as is afforded by the
colophons of manuscripts, mostly of Chinese and Tibetan
provenance. Its history cannot be traced with any approach
to completeness, but it is possible to trace and follow the
main lines of evolution.
The history of Buddhist education really forms one
aspect of the history of Buddhist monachism itself. It re­
flects in its process the inner intellectual life of the monas­
teries— the gradual and progressive enrichment of this life,
its broadening and liberalizing effect over the course of the
centuries, its unfolding and expansion. Starting as a
system of training for a monk, it expands its scope and
purpose under the impact of new intellectual needs and
interests, finds new mental horizons, until the monastery
becomes not just a place for cloistered meditation, but a
seat of culture and learning. Some develop into univer­
sities. But this history, spanning nearly the whole duration
of post-Vedic ancient India, comes to an end, abruptly and
definitely, in the closing years of the twelfth century A.D.
The conquests of Bukhtyar Khilji in eastern India (Bihar
and Bengal) put finis to the long, long story.

]. The name is also written as Vikramasila. See Prof. PI. D. Sanka-

lia, The University of Nalanda, p. 181, where it is said, “ owing, according to
some writers, to the high moral character of its monks, and also because of
its being the site where a certain Yaksa or genius of the name Vikramu
was suppressed, it was called Vikramasila. Also see Phanindranath Bose,
Indian Teachers of Buddhist [hiivemities (192:1), p. 33; Satish Chandra Vidya-
bhushan, Indian Logic : Mediaeval School (1909). Appendix ‘O’, p. 150, reads
Vikramasila, although footnotes 2 and read (I) Vikramaslln-deva Maha
vihariya, and (2) Vikramasilasi Vihiire, respectively.
General Editor.
 T h e B e g in n in g s

The Training of a Monk

When the Buddhists first settled down to cenobitical life
in the monasteries—probably in the 4th century B.C.—
the question arose of training the neophyte who had
been ordained and had joined a monastery. The system was
known as Nissaya, meaning, literally, dependence on a
teacher. The Nissaya period was one of learning and novi­
tiate which preceded the attainment of the full status of a
monk and it is sometimes called by the same term, brahma-
carya as is used in Brahmanical books for the student
period of a man’s life. It was a system which reproduced
within the communal monastic life the pre-Buddhistic
Brahmanical ‘small school’ or ‘teacher and a group of
pupils’ system. A learned, competent person joining a
monastery might, as it is laid down, live in Nissaya for a
period of five years only, while another might do so all his
life. A neophyte used to have at his ordination a spiritual
guide who was called Upajjhaya, and a regular instructor
called Acarya who had to be a senior monk of at least ten
years’ standing.
In the age we are speaking of, literacy in the modem
sense did not exist and all teaching had to be imparted by
word of mouth and retained in the memory. This is clear­
ly proved by the total lack of mention of any manuscript
or writing material among the personal belongings of a
monk listed in the Vinaya-pitaka. In fact, the writing of
books, apart from brief lithic or copper-plate inscriptions
for official use, came much later—probably not before the
first century B.C. The monk instructor (Acarya) took his
small class informally: we may visualize how from a piece
of much defaced sculpture in the archaeological museum at
Mathura. The teacher is seen in it with a parasol over his
head held at an angle in the left hand, discoursing to a small
group of novices who squat in front of him in various pos­
tures of attention on the bare ground and under the open sky.
 The teacher’s discourses no doubt related to the
monkish learning of the age—the monastic regula (Vinaya),
the holy legends (the making of which seems to have been
a continuous literary industry in the convents over several
centuries), the Buddhist moral fables (Jatakas), hymnology
and fundamental doctrines. The teaching was reinforced
by the practice of frequent recitation of the texts and their
chanting by the whole congregation in chorus on special
occasions (sangiti). The object was to fix the texts of the
Canon in the memory.
The unwritten canonical lore which formed the exclu­
sive subject-matter of a novice’s education had a standard
twofold division into Dhamma (the religion as set forth and
expounded in the suttas, the Lord’s discourses) and Vinaya
(the rules of monastic life as laid down by the Lord). In
the better class of monasteries there were specialists in both
the divisions: they were called suttantikas and vinaya-dharas
respectively. Besides, there were specialists in particular
portions, e.g., matika-dharas, who specialized in matikas or
formularies.
The earnestness in the study of the Canon by the early
generations of monks is reflected for us by a small incident
inset in the Canon itself. A solemn ceremony in the monas­
teries was the Pavarana which marked the end of the period
of rain retreat (vassa). But on one occasion, as is reported,
this ceremony had to be cut short because the best part
of the previous night had been sleeplessly spent by the
monks in study and debate—some reciting the Dhamma:
the suttantikas propounding the suttantas, the vinaya-dharas
discussing the Vinaya, and the dhamma-kathikas conversing
about the Dhamma .1
The expression, Dhamma-kathika, is intriguing. It will
be noticed that the word, Dhamma, occurs twice in the pas­
sage referred to—first, in the general sense of religion,
in the phrase, ‘Turning the Wheel of the Dhamma’, and,
secondly, in the more specialized sense of Doctrinc. Katha
1. Mahavagga (in th e V inaya-pitaka), IV , 15,4.
was a discourse or debate specifically on the doctrines of the
Religion.'
These Kathas or Debates on Doctrines seem to have
been an important and significant feature of monastic educa­
tion in those early days. Out of these debates a methodo­
logy seems to have evolved; it is known as the Abhidhamma
which is explained as the ‘doctrinal explication of the spe­
cial meanings of the texts'. The substance of these Kathas
was collected in a number of text-books which were in­
cluded subsequently in the Abhidhamma-pitaka of the
Canon. It was by no means a one-way traffic of the mind,
for it is laid down that while the teacher must be one
who is apt in “instructing the pupil in what pertains to the
Dhamma, in what pertains to the Vinaya, in discussing or
making another discuss, according to the Dhamma, a false
doctrine that might arise ’’,2 the pupil at the same time is
enjoined to “combat by discussion any false doctrine that
the teacher might take to or to get others to do it ’’.3
This is the outline of the initial mode of Buddhist edu­
cation as presented in the Vinaya-pitaka section of the
Canon. It was meant exclusively for the ordained; was
based on the cloistered learning of the age - inbred and
closed except for one important opening.
This was the unrestricted freedom to argue, to dispute
and to debate allowed to every qualified monk in a monastic
frattrnity: each was expected to think, reason and decide
for himself in all matters relating to both the Dhamma and
the Vinaya. There were procedural rules for the formal
submission of points of controversy to the judgment of the
corporate body of monks (Sangha). But even the verdict of
the Sangha, which was based under the Sangha constitution
1. The great polemical work of the Asokan age, dealing with doctrines,
is titled K atha-vatthu ( M atters of K athas or Doctrinal Debates). In a
canonical legend ( M ahagosinga-sutta), two monks are referred to as holding
an A bhidham m a-katha, putting questions to one another, furnishing answers
and not collapsing but gaining edification by their discussions.
2. Mahavagga, i, 30,12%
3. Mahavagga, i, 25,20.
on majority opinion ascertained by ballot voting (Salaka),
was not allowed to stifle individual conviction: the dissi­
dents were allowed under the rules to form a party. While this
state of affairs in monastic life and community tended to
stimulate, sharpen and put a premium on independent think­
ing and intellectual ability, it became also the seed bed of
the sectarianism which is so prominent a feature of Bud­
dhist history. Buddhism embraces almost countless sects
and sub-sects, each in its origin representing a fresh current
of thought, a new movement of the monk mind.
M o n a s t e r i e s a s S e a t s o f L e a r n in g

The Intellectual Bias

In the above sketch of the primitive system of a monk’s
training, the emphasis is noticeably on making a monk in­
tellectually keen. This particular emphasis grew in Bud­
dhist monasticism until many monasteries began to func­
tion as seats of learning rather than as mere shelters for a
sequestered spiritual culture. We find that Chinese pil­
grims like Fa-Hien and Yuan Chwang, while describing
many of the monasteries they visited, record among a
monastery’s past traditions the name of some renowned
scholar monk who composed some great work while in resi­
dence there. It is a pointer to a fresh development in the
character of the monasteries, their growth as seats of learn­
ing and scholarship, which probably became apparent in the
1st century A.D. or perhaps even earlier.
The actual predisposing conditions for this development
are not far to seek: in the first place, Buddhism was a prose­
lytizing religion that sought and welcomed converts; in the
second, the Buddhist monasteries had to depend for their
existence on princely patronage or popular support of which
the monastic community had to prove itself deserving.
Occasions for proving it lay in an ancient traditional
institution in the history of India’s culture, the holding of
assemblies or conventions of the learned for discussion
and debate between sect and sect of the same religion or
 between representatives of rival religious systems. There
are outstanding historical examples of this peculiarly Indian
institution —both early and late—in remote Vedic times, as
well as in the reign of Asoka (3rd century B.C.) and in that
of Harsa (7th century A.D.) and later. It was perhaps for
this reason that the urge developed in the Buddhist system
of education for dialectical skill and ability in argumentation.
In a well-known Buddhist Sanskrit work of circa 400 A.D., for
example, we find included a complete( treatise on the rules
and principles of debate .1 In the history of Indian logic,
the ‘Mediaeval School’ is almost wholly represented by Bud­
dhist scholar monks whose works, lost in India, were dis­
covered in Tibetan by Pandit S. C. Vidyabhushan in the
early years of the present century .2
An important feature—and one of far-reaching cultural
consequence—in the process of development of the monas­
teries into seats of learning was the dissolution of the inbred
and cloistered character of their old monastic learning.
No longer was the Canon of Buddhism the end all and be
all of a monk’s study. The monks were trained in more
varied cultural subjects—in the tenets of other faiths, in
systems of philosophy (of course, within the framework of
Buddhist thought) and, at some monasteries, even in sub­
jects of merely pragmatic importance like agriculture and
architecture, useful for the proper lay-out, construction and
upkeep of monastic establishments. After the first century
B.C., when the writing of books came into vogue, they were
collected and preserved in the monasteries and were the pre­
cursors of the splendid manuscript libraries of universities
like Nalanda and Vikrama&la of a later age.
But the ‘seats of learning’ kept up throughout their own
monastic character, imposing on the inmates the rules of
monastic life, although from references in the accounts of
the Chinese pilgrims it clearly appears that admission was
1. Saptadiuwbhumi-f&stra (Nanjio 1170), by Maitreya, deals in its
fifteenth volume w ith th e A rt of D ebate in seven chapters.
2. Indian Logic. Mediaeval School, by 8. C. V idyabhushan (1907).
open not only to monks of different Buddhist sects, but also
to unordained seekers after Buddhist learning, even presum­
ably to non-Buddhists. The latter are designated for the
sake of distinction as Manavas (commoners) and Brahma-
caris (students). For the benefits of residence and learning
in a monastery, there could of course be no question of
payment.

Maintenance and Endowment

Gifts to monasteries had always been regarded by prin­
ces and people alike as an act of spiritual merit. A king
who favoured Buddhism might assign the revenue of a vil­
lage or a group of villages for the permanent upkeep of a
monastery whose site and buildings had possibly been the
donation of a merchant prince or of wealthy lay devotees.
Thus many monasteries grew rich, had fine buildings and
assembly halls, overflowing granaries and considerable im­
movable assets. A number of single monasteries, lying
close to each other, was sometimes gathered within a
circuit wall, forming a unitary establishment.
Fa-Hien describes how kings and ‘heads of the Vaisyas’,
by which he meant leading merchants, would build Viharas
(monasteries) for monks and endow them with fields, houses,
gardens, orchards and cattle, in co-operation with the resi­
dent population. Royal grants to monasteries used to be
“engraved on plates of metal and were handed down from
king to king without anyone daring to annul them”. “When
a king makes his offerings to a community of monks, he
takes off his royal cap and, along with his relatives and
ministers, supplies them with food with his own hands.”
“The families of people supply the societies of these monks
with an abundant sufficiency of what they require so that
there is no lack or stint.” Many monasteries, late in the
seventh century, had in fact become so wealthy that the
Chinese pilgrim, I-tsing, visiting them in the closing decades
of that century, strikes a rather censorious note. “ It is un­
seemly’^ he observes, “for a monastery to have too great
wealth, granaries full of rotten corn, many servants, male
and female, money and treasures hoarded without use in the
treasury/’

Chinese Pilgrims and their Testimony

Fa-Hien in the early part of the fifth century visited two
monasteries at Pataliputra which were typical of what some
of the greater monasteries in different parts of the country
were in the process of becoming. One of them, described by
him as “ very grand and beautiful”, was a Mahayanist
monastery, while the other was a Hinayanist one. Together
they housed six to seven hundred monks. He speaks thus
of these two establishments: “The rules of demeanour and
the scholastic arrangements in them are worthy of observation.
Sramanas (monks) of the highest virtue from all quarters,
and students, enquirers wishing to find out the truth and the
grounds thereof, all resort to these monasteries.”
Their academic aspect seems thus to have struck even
Fa-Hien who was more of a pious pilgrim than an eager
scholar in search of learning in India as was his successor,
T uan Chwang. This aspect of the monasteries seems to
have developed during the two centuries that separate Fa-
Hien and Yuan Chwang. It grew into prominence: monks
from different parts of the country came to some of them
to write books, to study and to learn, and their fame as
seats of learning spread to other Buddhist lands, attracting
scholar pilgrims, chiefly Chinese, who have left us invalu­
able eye-witness accounts of some Mahaviharas (great
monastic establishments) that functioned as centres in
India and as radiating foci to other lands of Buddhist culture
and learning.
The whole of China, both North and South, had by
500 A.D. embraced Buddhism. To quote Fitzgerald, “Bud­
dhist rites and ceremonies were everywhere practised; tem­
ples and monasteries had arisen in every district; priests
and nuns were numerous and highly respected.”1 But
1. Short Cultural History of China, p. 276.
Buddhism in China at the time was strongly adulterated
with Taoist beliefs and practices. It was therefore felt by
the Buddhist monks of China of that era that they must
turn to the homeland of Buddhism in order to reform and
purify Chinese Buddhism—to collect original scriptures
and learn the proper rites and ceremonies. This, apart
from the spiritual benefit of pilgrimage, was the motive that
started a stream of intrepid Chinese scholar monks 011 the
long trek to India, thousands of miles over deserts and
mountains. According to the findings of a modern Chinese
historian, as many as 162, out of the number of Chinese
pilgrims who went out to India during the 5th, 6th, 7th and
8th centuries, can be traced from Chinese sources of infor­
mation .1 The ‘records’ (Ki in Chinese) of only three of
them have been explored and translated by Sinologists —
those of Fa-Hien, Yuan Chwang and 1-tsing, covering the
periods 405 -411 A.D,, 6 2 9 -6 4 6 A.D. and 6 7 1 -6 9 5 A.D.
respectively.
M o n a s t ic U n i v e r s i t i e s

Nalanda and Valabhi

During the period of his stay in India, Yuan Chwang,
who was a learned Mahayanist monk, studied Indian philo­
sophy, both Buddhist and Brahmanical, at several monas­
teries, singly or under Indian teachers of contemporary re­
nown. He makes special mention of two educational
establishments that were pre-eminent in India, Nalanda and
Valabhi, in eastern and western India respectively. The
latter, which was a centre of Hinayana Buddhism, does not
seem to have attracted Mahayanist scholars much, but of
Nalanda he has left a detailed description which is supple­
mented with further details by his disciple and biographer,
1. Prof. Liang Chi-chao. His researches in Chinese history, which
remain untranslated still, are summarized in a paper, ‘Chinese Sources of
Indian H istory *, contributed by Dr. Lo Lia-chuen to the Silver Jubilee
Session of the Indian Historical Records Commission in December, 1948.
Dr. Lo, an eminent Chinese scholar, now serving in the Government of
Formosa, was China's Ambassador to India in 1945-50.
 Hwui-Li. At Nalanda, Yuan Chwang studied the Yoga philo­
sophy under the head of that institution, Silabhadra, for five
years or more. With its full complement of schools of
studies, lecture halls, libraries, regulations for admission
and attendance at lectures, conduct and discipline (with pres­
cribed penalties for a breach of these), and a complete system
of academic administration, it was a full-fledged monastic
university of immense size. Its magnitude can be judged
from Yuan Chwang’s report that the number of teachers was
1,500 and of learners 10,000, though the figure seems to
have come down later, in I-tsing’s time, to a little over
3,000.
It is said that as many as one hundred chairs or pulpits
were daily arranged for the lectures and discussions. The
range of studies covered subjects of both Buddhist and
Brahmanical learning, both sacred and secular, and the
learners had to make their choice among them. Yuan
Chwang’s life by Hwui-Li gives us an idea of the subjects
studied at Nalanda. He says (p. 112): “The priests belong­
ing to the convent (of Nalanda) or strangers (residing therein)
always number 10,000 and all study the Great Vehicle, as
well as the works belonging to the eighteen sects, and not
only so, but even ordinary works such as the Vedas and
other books, the Hetuvidya. the Sabdavidya, the Cikitsavidya.
the works on magic (Atharva Veda), and the Sarikhya; besides,
they thoroughly investigate the ‘miscellaneous’ works. There
are 1,000 men who can explain 20 collections of sutras and
Sastras; 500 who can explain 30 collections and perhaps ten
men, including the Master of the Law, who can explain fifty
collections. Silabhadra alone has studied and understood
the whole number.”
In Chapter XXXIV of his Record of the Buddhist Reli­
gion, I-tsing also gives us information about the method of
learning followed in Indian educational establishments.
Sanskrit grammar was always one of the basic studies of a
scholar. I-tsing says: “The old translators (of Sanskrit into
Chinese) seldom tell us the rules of Sanskrit language...!
trust that now a thorough study of Sanskrit grammar may
clear up many difficulties we encounter whilst engaged in
translation .”1 He goes on to describe the systematic
way in which the study of grammar was conducted. It is
clear from commentaries such as those of YaSomitra that
Panini’s grammar formed a part of the basic training of a
young scholar. I-tsing mentions the grammatical works a
scholar was required to study. These include the following:
Panini’s sutras, Dhatupatha, Astadhatu, UnSdi-sGtras,
Kasikavrtti, Curni (perhaps the same as Patanjali’s Maha-
bhasya), Bhartrhari’s Sastra, Vakyapadiya and Pei-na or
Bedavrtti. He further adds that young scholars “devote
themselves to logic (Hetuvidya) and metaphysics (Abhi-
dharma-kosa). In learning the Nyaya-dvara-tarka-siistra,
they rightly draw inferences (anumana); and by studying the
Jataka-mala their powers of comprehension increase”.2
He goes on to say: “The priests learn besides all
the Vinaya works and investigate the sOtras and sastras as
well. They oppose the heretics as they would drive beasts
(deer) in the middle of a plain and explain away disputations
as boiling water melts frost.”3 He also adds, “ In India,
there are two traditional ways in which one can attain
to great intellectual power. Firstly, by repeatedly commit-
ing to memory the intellect is developed; secondly, the alpha­
bet fixes one’s ideas. In this way, after a practice of ten
days, a scholar feels his thoughts rise like a fountain, and
can commit to memory whatever he has once heard (not re­
quiring to be told twice). This is far from being a myth,
for I myself have met such men .”4
At the conclusion of the curriculum, academic degrees
were granted according to the supplicant’s status and quali­
fications. The daily time-table was regulated by means of
a clepsydra (water clock), a contraption consisting of a large

1. Record, of the Buddhist Religion, p. 168.

2. Ibid., pp. 176-77.
3. Ibid., p. 181.
4. Ibid., pp. 182-83.
bowl of water with a smaller perforated one floating in it,
each immersion of the smaller bowl indicating a quarter of
an hour which was announced by one stroke on a drum. A
working day for teachers and students was eight hours.
Nalanda became famous for its ‘Schools of Discussion’ :
indeed, they harked back to a more ancient and established
tradition of monastic education—to the Kathas, an institu­
tion of primitive monasteries as we have seen. The Schools
attracted learners not only from all over India, but also from
the Far East and later from Tibet. “Learning and discuss­
ing,” says Yuan Chwang, “ they find the day too short.” The
uninhibited scope and freedom of these discussions at
Nalanda and also at all other monastic universities must be
counted as a great contributory factor in that process of
fusion of Brahmanical and Buddhistic thought and culture
which makes it so intriguing a feature of the final period of
the history of ancient Indian culture.
Traditional legends of the vast manuscript wealth of
Nalanda's libraries come from Tibetan sources, from Lama
Taranatha and other Tibetan writers on the history of Bud­
dhism, belonging to the 17th and 18th centuries. A whole
area of the campus was, according to the Tibetan writers, set
apart for the libraries and was covered with huge, many-
storeyed library buildings, three of which had the fancy
names of Ratnadadhi (Sea of Jewels), Ratnasagara (Ocean of
Jewels) and Ratnaranjaka (Jewel-adorned), the first-named
edifice being nine-storeyed. The Tibetan legend is that
these great libraries were reduced to ashes by the deliberate
act of an infuriated incendiary, a Turuska (Turk).
Nalanda, founded as a monastery centuries before, must
have touched its peak of fame as a university some time in
the 6th century, between the time of Fa-Hien and that of
Yuan Chwang and continued to function, though dimmed
perhaps by the rising glory of the University of VikramaSfla,
situated within a measurable distance of Nalanda, for about
three centuries after. It certainly did not survive the
Muhammadan invasion of Bihar, about 1197 A.D., which,
as we know from the contemporary account of Minhaz, was
attended with the wholesale massacre of ‘shaven-headed
priests’, as the Buddhist monks were described.1
Architecturally, Nalanda was probably the grandest and
most magnificent of all monastic establishments in the 7th
century A.D. in India. We have not only Yuan Chwang’s
testimony for it, but also a descriptive reference in an inscrip­
tion of King Yasovarman of the following century which
mentions Nalanda's ‘rows of monasteries with their series of
turrets, licking the clouds'. Hwui-Li and Yuan Chwang
provide more details. “All outside courts, in which the
priests’ chambers are located are of four stages. Each stage
has dragon-like projections and coloured eaves, pearl (jewel?)-
red pillars carved and ornamented, richly adorned balus­
trades, etc., while the roofs arc covered with tiles that reflect
the light in a thousand shades. These things add to the
beauty of the scene. The Sarigharamas (monastic estab­
lishments) of India are counted by myriads, but this is the
most remarkable for grandeur and height.” (Hwui-Li.) “ In
this establishment, the work of successive kings, the sculpture
is perfect and really beautiful.'’ (Yuan Chwang.) The
natural surroundings in which this grand masterpiece of
architecture was situated, made a perfect setting. The
grounds were variegated with ponds with a great profusion
of blue lotuses, and to their exquisite blue the kanaka
flowers springing up everywhere joined their deep red,
while the mango-groves chequered the landscape with their
grateful shade. Of all this natural and man-made beauty
of Nalanda nothing remains now but mouldering mounds,
scattered debris and broken stone images here and there.
The archaeologists have been busy with spade and shovel
over them.
The village of Bargaon, a few miles from Rajagrha
(Ra'jgir in Bihar State), is the site of Nalanda. It has been
excavated by archaeologists and the finds are housed in a
museum on the site. Among these finds is the official seal of
1, See Tab(ikat-i-Natiri (K averty’s translation)f p, 552.
the University, engraved on stone, with the wheel of Dhamma,
flanked with a gazelle on either side, bearing the inscription:
‘Venerable Community of Monks of the Nalanda Maha­
vihara’. The seal proves the University to have been a uni­
tary organization comprising a number of viharas (monas­
teries), built, as we know from Yuan Chwang’s account, in
different centuries—such an organization being known as a
Mahavihara (Great Monastic Establishment).
The other pre-eminent Mahavihara, spoken of by both
Yuan Chwang and I-tsing, was at Valabhi in western India.
I-tsing reports Nalanda and Valabhi to be the two places in
India where it was usual for scholars to reside for two or
three years to complete their education. Valabhi seems to
have been in that century the largest Hinayanist establishment
in India, as Nalanda was the largest Mahayanist.

Vikramasila

Nalanda and Valabhi figure in the accounts of the

Chinese pilgrims of the seventh century. However, there were
other Buddhist universities that flourished after the heyday
of these older universities and they functioned right down to
the Muhammadan conquest of Bihar and Bengal. We know
about them from Tibetan sources—from Taranatha’s descrip­
tion in his ‘History of Indian Buddhism’ (early 18th century
and other minor historiographical works and from mention
of them in the colophons of a number of manuscripts
recovered from Tibet. The greatest and most famous of
them was Vikramasila.
The monasteries of Vikramasila were situated on a ‘bluff
hill’1 on the right bank of the Ganga ‘where the Holy River
flows northwards’. The site cannot be definitely identified:
perhaps it was washed away long ago by the river’s erosion.
It was in its peak period under the patronage of the Buddhist
Pala kings of Bengal—a grand and stately establishment with
six noble gates, each guarded by a scholar officer of the Uni-
1. This fact is taken to be a justification for th e spelling Vikramasila.
 versity who bore the designation of ‘Gatekeeper Scholar’
(Dvara-pandita). The University granted the degree of
Pandita, equivalent to Master of Arts.
The fame and prestige of Vikramasila in Tibetan records
is due perhaps in a large measure to its association with the
great name of Dipankara Srijnana (980—1053 A.D.), a re­
nowned scholar, who, after finishing his education at Odanta­
puri, became the head of the University of Vikramasila in
1034—38 A.D., migrated to Tibet at the invitation of its king
and led a movement for the reform of Buddhism, then the
State religion in that country.
He was nearing his sixties and was the head of Vikrama­
sila, when he received the Tibetan king’s invitation and was
persuaded by the king’s emissaries, though much against his
will, to undertake this strenuous and difficult mission. The
tale of his journey to Tibet across the Himalayas through the
winding, windswept las (mountain passes), his grand and
colourful reception at the capital, his organizing work and
cultural propaganda are all described with many quaint yet
realistic details in a life of AtiSa (Dipankara’s Tibetan
name), still current among scholars in Tibet, written by
Diparikara’s chief Tibetan disciple, Nagtcho1. After thirteen
years of missionary work in that country of severe cold and
difficult terrain, he died, full of years and honours, at
an obscure place in the interior called Nethan. His tomb
still stands there: a description and pictograph of it will
be found in Lhasa and its Mysteries (1905) by Captain Waddel
who paid a visit to the tomb at the turn of this century.
Dipankara is the founder of Lamaism in Tibet and he
has been deified in Tibet under his Tibetan name. At Ghoom
near Darjeeling (in West Bengal) there is a secluded Tibetan
monastery where, among the monstrous Tantric divinities of
the Lamaist pantheon, a solitary, humanized stone image of
AtiSa may be seen.

1. An abridged English version of the im portant parts of this work iff

given in Sarat Chandra Das’s book, now rare, entitled Indian Pandits in the
Land of Snout (1893).
 Jagaddala and Odantapuri
The Buddhist Pala kings of Bengal were patrons of
learning. King Ramapala who reigned between 1084 and
1130 A.D. built a new capital for his kingdom at the junction
of the Ganga and one of its deltaic tributaries, the Karatoa,
and christened it Ramavati. Here he established a Buddhist
university called Jagaddala. It functioned for barely a
century and a half and was swept away by the violence of
the Muslim invasion of Bihar. But during this compara­
tively brief period, it produced a number of famous scholars
whose names are known to us from the colophons of their
works, both in Sanskrit and in Tibetan.
Odantapuri. where at one time a thousand monks were
in residence, existed before the Pala dynasty, but it was under
the Pala kings that it throve as a university, munificently
endowed and much enlarged. It is said that the first
Buddhist monastery built in Tibet was modelled on
Odantapuri.
The tradition of Nalanda was carried on by these Buddhist
universities of later days, functioning till the eve of the
Muslim conquest, and it seems that thereafter a good
many scholars migrated from their ruins to Tibet and wrote
some of their works there. They are included in the
Tibetan encyclopaedia of Buddhist works, some in original
Tibetan and others in translations from the Sanskrit. The
Tibetan script itself was fashioned by Dipankara out of the
old Indiaa script and the migrating scholars had little diffi­
culty in acquiring the Tibetan language-and in writing in
its script.
C o n c l u s io n
From the foundation of the first Buddhist monasteries
until the extinction of Buddhism as an organized religion in
India, the system of Buddhist education passed through an
evolution of many centuries, of which the last term is re­
presented by the great monastic universities of Chinese and
Tibetan fame. The story goes back to well over fifteen
centuries.
 BUDDHIST EDUCATION 193
*

The system remained monastic throughout: it was regu­

lated and conditioned by the rules and by the ethos of monas­
tic life. A time came, however, when the femphasis latent in
primitive Buddhism, on intellectual ability and the urge to
know, to think and to reason for onself seems to have out­
weighed the original purpose of secluded spiritual cultivation.
Slowly the convent was transformed: it developed in the
course of centuries into a seat of learning, a means of scholar­
ship, a place where the faculties were sharpened for the
understanding of the Dhamma and meditation. The learn­
ing naturally outgrew its original confinement to the texts of
the Buddhist Canon: it became larger and more liberal; it
took in both sacred and secular subjects; it enabled the Bud­
dhist scholar monk to hold his own among the rivalries of
sects and systems. But it had also the effect of producing
subtle and gradual changes in the old framework and cast
of Buddhist thought, introducing into it new elements from
outside.
By a perfectly natural transition, these ‘seats of learning’
developed, though never foregoing their original monastic
character, into educational seminaries where admission was
thrown open not only to monks but also to other seekers
after knowledge, irrespective of sect. religious denomination
and nationality. They partook of the character of the
studium generate of mediaeval Europe, and from the fifth
or sixth century onwards, several of them were organized
as universities and functioned as such.
Of them, the University of Nalanda is highlighted in the
Si-yu-ki (Western World Record) of Yuan C hwang who him­
self was one of its most distinguished alumni, respected and
honoured both in India and in China. The fame of Nalanda
and other Buddhist universities spread over all the Buddhist
lands of Asia through the works and achievements of the
eminent scholars they produced.
Yuan Chwang took home with him many hundreds of
bundles of manuscripts and devoted the rest ol his life to
translating into Chinese as many of them as he could with
the help of devoted collaborators. He was also the founder
of one of the Ten Schools of Chinese Buddhism—the A-
Fa-hsiang school which claims the Nalanda scholar, Sila­
bhadra, Yuan Chwang’s instructor at that university, as its
initiator. A contemporary and fellow student of Yuan
Chwang at Nalanda was a Tibetan scholar, named Thonmi
Sambhota, who in his own country had been Minister to the
Tibetan king. He had been commissioned by the king, who,
having had a Chinese Buddhist wife, was inclined towards
Buddhism, to study that religion at its source in India. He
went back to the Tibetan court after a course of study at
Nalanda to report on what he had learnt. The king was
converted and Buddhism for the first time was declared the
State religion of Tibet. A few centuries later, Dipankara
went from the University of Vikramasila and gave the religion
its present Lamaist organization.
Thus the outflow of influence from the Indian Buddhist
universities led not only to the propagation of knowledge and
appreciation of the teachings and tenets of Buddhism in
other Asian lands, but also to certain historic reforms there.
 Some Great Buddhists after Asoka
A. I n I n d ia

Rulers : Menander, Kaniska, Harsa

After Asoka the torch of Buddhism was kept burning by
the efforts of Milinda (Menander), Kaniska, Harsa and the
rulers of the Pala dynasty (750— 1150 A.D.). Menander, the
Indo-Greek king, was a great patron and supporter of
Buddhism. During the two centuries that followed the dec­
line of the power of the imperial Mauryas, the Greek invaders
held suzerainty over north-western India and Afghanistan.
Some thirty rulers flourished during this period, of whom only
King Menander has left a permanent impress on the Indian
mind. This is evidently due to his association with the
Dhamma.
King Menander figures as one of the characters in the
Pali book, Milinda-panha or ‘Questions of Milinda’. The
name Milinda is an adaptation of the Greek word Menandros.
Ancient authors used various other Indian forms of the
Greek King’s name. Thus, in Ksemendra’s Avadana-
kalpalata. he has been given the name Milindra which is the
same as that found in the Bstan-hgyur collection (popularly
known as Tanjur) of the Tibetan Tripitaka. The Shinkot
casket inscription in the Kharosthi script gives his name as
Menadra. The chief sources from which information may
be gathered about this Indo-Greek king are the Milinda-
panha, the accounts of Greek historians such as Strabo.
Plutarch and Justin, and the coins of King Menander him­
self, bearing the inscription Basileus Soteros Menandros,
which have been found in twenty-two different places in the
 valleys of the Kabul and the Sindh and in the western
districts of Uttar Pradesh.
There is a great divergence of opinion among the scholars
concerning the date of King Menander. According to
Smith, h£ flourished in the middle of the second century B.C.
H. C. Raychaudhuri places him in the first century B.C. In
the Milinda-panha it is stated. Parinibbdnato pancavassasate
atikkante, which means that King Milinda lived 500 years
after the parinirvana of the Buddha. It is. therefore, reason­
able to assume that the Greek king reigned in or about the
f i r s t century B.C., which is also borne out by other facts.

In the Milinda-panha Menander (Milinda) has been

described as the king of the Yonakas— Yonakdnam raja
Milinda, The Pali word Yonaka or Yona (Skt. Yavana>
is the same as the old Persian word Yauna, meaning origi­
nally Ionian Greeks, but later the Greeks in general. The
lands of the Yonas and the Kambojas were known to Indians
in the sixth century B.C. as is evidenced by the ASsalayana
suttanta of the Majjhima-nikaya which states that the people
of these regions had only two varnas or social grades, viz.,
the Arya and the Dasa instead of the four classes of Indian
society. It is a well-known fact that after the third Buddhist
Council held at Pataliputra, Buddhist missionaries were sent
ui the distant Yona country comprising the realms of Antio-
chos II of Syria, Antigonos Gonatos of Macedonia, etc., as
mentioned in the second and the thirteenth rock edicts of
Asoka. It is also stated that the Greek bhikkhu named
Dhammarakkhita— Yona Dhammarakkhita -was deputed to
the Aparantaka country to preach the Dhamma there. It is
thus clear that the blessed teachings of the Buddha had
begun to appeal to the Greek mind even before the time of
Menander whom we first see as obsessed with doubts and
dilemmas about the teachings of the Buddha and then as a
devout Buddhist ruler propagating the teachings of the
Buddhist religion when his doubts and misgivings had been
removed by the Venerable Nagasena.
It is stated in the Milinda-panha that Milinda was born
 in a village named Kalasi (Kalasigamo) in the dipa or Doab
of Alasanda,1 i.e., Alexandria (modern Kandahar). His capi­
tal was at Sagala, which is the same as Sangal of the Greek
historian Arrian and the Sagal or Euthumedeia of Ptolemy.
This city is identified with the modern Sialkot in the Panjab.
Menander’s dominions comprised Peshawar, the upper Kabul
valley, the Panjab, Sindh. Kathiawar and western Uttar
Pradesh.
Menander was a well-informed scholar and a keen debater.
He was well versed in various branches of learning and expert
in argument. He wanted to understand the true essence of
Buddhism which raised for him several difficulties and knotty
problems. He approached many teachers, but none could
solve his difficulties. Keen seeker of truth as he was,
Menander was greatly disheartened by this. He exclaimed,
“ Empty, alas, is all India. All India is but vain gossip.
There is no ascetic or brahmana who is capable of disputing
with me and solving my doubts.” 2 It was by a fortunate
chance that one day he saw a Buddhist monk named
Nagasena going on his begging round. The calm and serene
personality of the sage had a silent but powerful influence
on the king's mind. Next day. in the company of five
hundred Yonakasl he went to the Sarikheyya monastery at
Sagal where the monk was staying at that time. They had
a conversation which, at the request of the king, was later
resumed at the palace. The monk who was no ordinary
teacher told the king that he was agreeable to a discussion
only if it was held in the scholastic way (Panditavada) and
not in the royal way (RajavSda). The king paid homage
to the teacher in a fitting manner and put his difficulties one
by one before the sage who ably solved them all to the king’s
entire satisfaction. On this celebrated dialogue which the
king had with the monk is based the Milinda-panha which
is considered to be the most notable book in the non-canoni-
cal Pali literature of Early Buddhism, cited by Buddhaghosa
1. Milinda, 82.
2. Milinda, 5,21.
as an authority. It is not possible for us here to go into
the details of the topics discussed in this book. Suffice it
to say that the deepest spiritual problem with which the king
was confronted was his inability to understand how the
Buddha could believe in rebirth without believing in a
re-incarnating self or ego. This knotty problem has been
solved by the Venerable Nagasena in a masterly way in this
book for all time. At the end of the conversation which
lasted for some days, the king expressed his gratitude to the
monk for having resolved all his doubts. He was filled
with spiritual joy and took refuge in the Three Jewels and
entreated Nagasena to accept him as an upasaka from that
day onward as long as he lived. Vpasakam mam bhante
Nagasena dhdretha ajjatagge pdnupetam saranam gatam ti.1
The king who was now a convert to Buddhism built a monas­
tery named Milinda-vihara and handed it over to Nagasena.
He also made large donations to the Bhiksu-sangha. Accord­
ing to the Milinda-panha, King Menander died a Buddhist
monk having retired from the world after handing over his
kingdom to his son. He is also said to have attained to
Arhatship (arhattam) which is the last stage of sanctification
according to Theravada Buddhism.*
Plutarch, the Greek historian, says that Menander’s death
occurred in a camp and there was a dispute among several
Indian cities for the possession of his ashes which were
divided and a memorial erected in each. We know that
exactly the same thing had happened at the time of Lord
Buddha’s parinirvana. It is also significant that the coins of
Menander bear the Buddhist wheel (dharmacakra). This
is an unmistakable sign that he was a devout Buddhist. The
Shinkot inscription proves beyond a doubt that the Greek
king helped in the propagation of Buddhism in the region
between the Hindukush and Sindh.3 Plutarch says that
1. Milinda, 420.
2. Milinda, 420.
3. The History and Culture of the Indian People ($haratiya Vidyabhavan,
2nd ed., 1953), Vol. II, pp. 112-115; also Raychaudhuri, Political History of
Ancient India (6th ed., 1953), p. 382.
as a ruler Menander had a keen sense of justice and was
dearly loved by his people.1 Though the power he had
established in India disappeared with his death, the memory
of this just and wise Buddhist ruler will for ever remain
enshrined in the pages of the Milinda-panha as in his own
coins bearing the dharmacakra.
After Milinda there comes another name in Indian history
which is equally illustrious among the rulers of India and in the
Buddhist tradition. This is the name of Kaniska who com­
pleted the work of Asoka and helped in the triumphant
spread of the Buddha-dharma throughout Asia. Kaniska
belonged to the Kusana (Kuei-Shuang) branch of the Yueh-
chi tribe which originally inhabited parts of Chinese Turkes­
tan (modern Sinkiang). The first Kusana chief who occupied
territories in India was Kadphises I (Kujul-Kasa) who was a
Buddhist. Some of his coins which have been found in the
Kharosthi script at the excavations at Taxila bear the ins­
cription. Kujul-Kosasa Kusona-Y avugasa dharnunhidasa,
i.e., ‘of Kujul Kasa. the Kusana chief, who is steadfast in
the Dharma'. That by the word ‘Dharma’ is meant here the
Buddhist religion is made clear by some other coins which
have the words sacca dfuirma-ihita (steadfast in the true
Dharma) instead of dharma-thita. It was in the line of
such an illustrious forefather that Kaniska came to rule
India in the last quarter of the tirst century A.D.
Kaniska's reign <78— 101 A.D.) also marks a turning point
in the history of Buddhism and Buddhist literature. It wit­
nessed the rise of Mahayana Buddhism and the magnificent
literary activity started by Parsva. Asvaghosa. Vasumitra, and
others. It was in this age that Pali gave place to Sanskrit.
In the field of art, the celebrated Gandhara sculptures deve­
loped and figures of the Buddha and Bouhisattvas began
to appear. It was during Kaniska’s reign and largely through
his efforts that Buddhism was successfully introduced into
Central and Eastern Asia. There was ceaseless missionary
activity throughout his vast empire which extended from
1. See footnote 3 on p. 198.
 Madhyadesa in India to Central Asia. A truly integrated
Asian culture came into existence at this time, based as it
was on the highest purposes of life for which Buddhism
stood.
The story of Kaniska’s conversion to Buddhism followed
the same lines as that of Asoka. It is said that the Yueh-chi
monarch in his early life had no respect for the Buddhist
religion. He did not believe in Karma, and treated Buddhism
with contumely.1 It was his remorse at the bloodshed
during his conquests of Kashgar, Yarkand, and Khotan
that drew him to the quietist teachings of Buddhism which
he propagated later with such zeal.
The crowning service which the Indo-Scythian monarch
rendered to Buddhism was the convocation by him of a
council which was held at a monastery named Kundulavana
Vihara in Kashmir according to some authorities and at
the Kuvana monastery at Jalandhara according to others.
Yuan Chwang who is considered to be the leading authority
on the subject states that the Council met in Kashmir. The
chief aim of the Council, which was the fourth in the his­
tory of Buddhist Councils, was the compilation of the doc­
trines of Buddhism and the writing of commentaries on
them according to the Sarvastivada school of Buddhism.
Kaniska summoned this Council at the instigation of an
old and learned monk named Parsva. Vasumitra was the
President of the Council while Asvaghosa, who was invited
from Saketa to help in the redaction of the Commentaries,
acted as the Vice-President. Five hundred monks took part
in the proceedings of the assembly and they compiled com­
mentaries, known as the Vibhasa-sastras, on the three
Pitakas of the Buddhist Canon. Yuan Chwang states that
this Council composed 100,000 stanzas of UpadeSa-Sastras
explaining the canonical sutras, 100,000 stanzas of the
Vinaya-vibhasa-sastras explaining the Vinaya, and 100,000
stanzas of the Abhidharma-vibhasa-sastras in explanation of
I. On Yuan Chwang'» Travels in India , by T. W atters (edited by
T. W, Rhys Davids and S. W. Busheil, London, 1004-5), Vol. I, p. 203.
the Abhidharma. The Mahavibhasa, which is still preserved
in Chinese, perhaps represents the commentaries prepared
by this Council. The treatises, prepared at this Council,
were copied on copper plates which were enclosed in stone
boxes and safely deposited in a stupa which Kaniska had
specially erected for this purpose. After the completion of
the work of the assembly, which lasted for several days,
Kaniska, following the example of Asoka, donated the king­
dom of Kashmir to the Buddhist Sangha.
According to Kalhana's Rajatarangini Kaniska founded
many monasteries and caityas. He founded a city named
Kaniskapura which has been identified with the modern
Kanispur in Kashmir. Kaniska erected a great tope which
was named after him. To the west of the tope he built a
large monastery which was known as Kaniska Mahavihara.
Both these structures were erected at Purusapura (modern
Peshawar). The Great Tope or the Kaniska Tope was a
magnificent structure 400 feet high, the base being in five
stages and 150 feet high. The Chinese pilgrims Fa-hien,
Sung-Yun and Yuan C hwang have lavished great praise on
the architectural beauty of this important relic tower. The
Kaniska Mahavihara, referred to above, was an ‘old monas­
tery' at the time when Yuan Chwang visited it in the
seventh century A.D. “ Its upper storeys and many terraces
were connected by passages and although the buildings were
in ruins they could be said to be of rare art. There were
still in the monastery a few brethren, all Hinayanists. From
the time it was built it had yielded occasionally extra­
ordinary men, and the Arhats and sastra-makers by their
pure conduct and perfect virtue were still in active in­
fluence.”1 A1 Biruni speaks of a Kanika Caitya (Kaniska
Caitya) at Purusavara (Peshawar), built by Kanika (Kaniska).
Ostensibly, this was the same building as Kaniska Maha­
vihara.
The Kusana line of rulers exhibited a wide spiritual cul-
1. On Yuan Chwang'8 Travels in India, by T. Wat ter a (edited by T. \V.
R hys Davids and S. W. Bushell, London, 1904-5), Vol. I, p. 208.
 ture. as its members professed different forms of religious
faith. As observed earlier, the first Kusana chief, Kadphises I,
was a devout Buddhist. Then came Kadphises II who was
a Saiva. Kaniska who succeeded Kadphises II was, as has
been seen, not only an ardent Buddhist but also an in­
defatigable propagator of Buddhism. It is no less note­
worthy that Vasiska who succeeded Kaniska was a Bhaga­
vata. This is in keeping with the tradition of absolute free­
dom and toleration in religious faith which is a marked
feature of Indian culture as a whole. Though an ardent
Buddhist himself. Kaniska respected all other forms of faith,
as is shown by his coins, which bear images of gods wor­
shipped by the Greeks, Persians and Indians. Thus, besides
Sakaymo Bodo (Sakyamuni Buddha), there is Oesho (Siva),
the fire god Athsho (Persian: Atash), the Greek sun god
Helios, and several others. This liberal attitude in matters
of religious worship was shown equally by another Buddhist
ruler, Harsa. He came nearly six centuries after Kaniska
and showed equal reverence to Siva, the cult of the Sun and
certain other forms of religious faith.
Harsa Vardhana was a great conqueror. He waged
continuous warfare for thirty-six years before he could unite
India under one sovereign rule. When this object was
achieved he devoted himself to the arts of peace Harsa
was also a great patron of learning. The famous poet
Bana adorned his court. Harsa himself was an author of
repute. The three Sanskrit dramas. Nugananda, Ratnavali,
and Priyadarsika, are ascribed to him. although there are
scholars who doubt Harsa’s authorship of these works.
The play, Nagiinanda, deals with the legend of Jimuta-
vahana (cloud-riding) Bodhisattva who sacrificed himself
for a naga.
In his early life Harsa had seen much suffering in his
family. His mother, Yasomati, after the death of her hus­
band, had burnt herself alive on the bank of the river Saras-
vati. Rajya Vardhana. his elder brother, was killed by
Sasanka, the king of Gauda. The story of his unfortunate
sister, Rajyasri, is well known. Her husband. Grhavarma, was
killed by the king of Malva and she was rescued by Harsa
only by a happy chance, when she, in her excessive grief,
was ready to mount the funeral pyre. These bereavements
and misfortunes had their inevitable effect on the susceptible
mind of Harsa, who was not prepared to accept the kingdom
of Thaneswar after the death of his elder brother, Rajya
Vardhana, or of Kanauj after the death of Grhavarma who
had left no heir. He wanted to take to an ascetic life. The
force of circumstance and the necessity of the times, how­
ever, not only compelled him to accept the kingdom of
Thaneswar and Kanauj but also to wage wars to bring the
whoie of India under one sovereign rule. This was the
great political and cultural need of the time in which Harsa
lived. He took upon his shoulders this onerous responsibi­
lity, but without the attendant vanity of kingship. It is
stated by Yuan Chwang that when Harsa was being request­
ed by the ministers to ascend the throne after the death of
his elder brother, Rajya Vardhana, he was perplexed and
could not decide what to do. He went to the statue of
Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva on the banks of the Ganga to
seek guidance. It seemed to him to be the will of Avalokites­
vara that he should dedicate himself to the affairs of state
in the service of Buddhism and should not style himself
king. Out of a sheer sense of desireless duty, however,
Harsa became the ruler of the country, but he did not use
the title, Maharaja, with his name. He was simply called
“Rajaputra” or £iladitya.
Harsa’s father, Maharajadhiraja Prabhakara Vardhana,
was a sun-worshipper and "his elder brother and sister were
devout Buddhists. Harsa himself showed devotion not only
to the cult of the Sun and Buddhism but also to the god
Siva. He erected temples for the Saivas as well as monas­
teries for the Buddhist brethren. He practised religious
toleration to such an extent that sometimes there is confusion
even among the scholars about the religion which Harsa
actually professed. On some epigraphic evidence Dr. R. C.
 Majumdar regards Harsa as a ‘pious and devoted SaivaV
This view is hardly tenable in the face of overwhelming
evidence in favour of Harsa being a devoted Buddhist.
The very circumstances of his life prove that Buddhism was
the only religion which would satisfy his spiritual needs,
while out of a deep sense of filial piety he continued to
worship the gods of his forefathers, which did not seem to
him to be incompatible with his devotion to Buddhism.
Thus although Harsa worshipped the god Siva and the Sun,
he was himself a Buddhist. He was a patron of Nalanda
University and erected a vihara and a bronze temple
there.* He also built several thousand stupas on the banks
of the Ganga/' It is said that in his early life Harsa was
a devotee of the Sammitiya school of Hinayana Buddhism,
but later, under the influence of Yuan Chwang, was drawn
towards Mahayana teachings. An important feature of the
religious life of India in the seventh century A.D. was the
emergence of what has been called ‘Puranic Hinduism’ or
‘Neo-Hinduism’ with its emphasis on image worship and a
tightening up of the caste system which resulted in bitter­
ness between the Brahmanas and the Buddhists of that age.
Yet royal patronage was accorded to all religious sects
equally. Yuan Chwang states that “at the royal lodges
viands were provided for 1,000 Buddhist monks and 500
Brahmanas everyday".4
The humanistic work for which Harsa was responsible re­
minds one of Asoka. He prohibited the slaying of any
living creature for food. Following the example of Asoka,
he built Dharmasalas which were provided with food, drink
and medicine for the benefit of the poor and the sick. It
is said that the King “ forgot sleep and food in his devotion

1. See his paper ‘Harsavardhana and Hia Time" in The History and
Culture of the Indian Peojrie, Vol. I l l (Bharatiya Vidyabhovan, Bombay,
19.>4), p. 117.
2. On Yuan Chwang*s Travels in India, Vol. II, p. 171.
2. Ibid., Vol. I, p. 344.
4. Ibid.
to good works".1
The most important event in Harsa's reign is the visit
of the Chinese pilgrim. Yuan Chwang. to India. He travel­
led in this country from 630 to 644 A.D. Harsa first met
him at Kajangala near Rajamahal while he was returning
from his conquest of Orissa. Harsa treated the Chinese pil­
grim with the utmost reverence and hospitality. He took
him to Kanauj (Kanyakubja) where a special assembly was
convoked in honour of the distinguished guest. This assem­
bly was attended by Bhaskaravarma (also called Kumara),
the king of Kamrup and several other rulers owing alle­
giance to Harsa. besides four thousand learned monks, of
whom one thousand came from Nalanda University, and
three thousand Jainas and orthodox brahmanas. Yuan
Chwang was appointed ‘Lord of the Discussion'. A golden
image of the Buddha, equal to the king in stature, was kept
in a tower which was a hundred feet high. The worship of
the Three, Jewels—the Buddha, the Dharma and the
Sangha - was performed with great pomp. The ceremonies
which lasted for twenty-one days were terminated by an
unfortunate atterppt on Harsa's life which was happily
foiled.
After the assembly's deliberations were over. Harsa took
his honoured guest to Prayag at the confluence of the rivers
Ganga and Yamuna. It had been a practice of the king for
the past thirty years to hold a quinquennial assembly at the
confluence of the two rivers at Prayag and this was the sixth
of such assemblies. The Chinese pilgrim describes in detail
the imposing ceremonies which took place. The assembly,
which was attended by all the vassal kings of Harsa and the
eminent scholars of all the religious sects in India, lasted
for seventy-five days. On the first day the Buddha was
worshipped. On the second and third days images of the
Sun and sfiva were worshipped respectively. Harsa gave
away all he possessed. Yuan Chwang states that after he had
parted with all he had, Harsa begged his sister, Rajyasri, to
1. On Y u a n Chuxtm f# Trtu'eh in lnr1i<ty V ol. I , j>. 344.
give him an old garment which he put on to worship the
‘Buddhas of the ten regions’.
Harsa maintained diplomatic relations with the Chinese
empire. He sent an envoy with a letter to the Chinese
Emperor who in return sent an envoy with the customary
presents which were received by Harsa with great courtesy
and honour. This interchange of embassies between India
and China in Harsa's time was the fruit of Harsa’s great
friendship with Yuan Chwang and marks an important
landmark in the history of Sino-Indian friendship based on
mutual love and respect.
After witnessing the ceremonies at Prayag Yuan Chwang
stayed for ten days more with his royal host and then start­
ed on his journey overland to China under a military escort
led by Bhaskaravarma who was charged by Harsa to con­
duct the pilgrim safely to the frontier. With the departure
of the Chinese pilgrim from India this brief account of
Harsa as a Buddhist ruler may be brought to a close.

Pali Authors: Nagasena, Buddhadatta, Buddhaghosa, and

Dhammapula
It is indeed strange that the unique place that Pali
occupies in Indian literature is not appreciated and valued
as it should be in India. It is not realized that the Pali
language and literature have not only influenced modern
Indian languages, but have also affected the growth of the
languages of Ceylon. Burma and Siam. It is but natural
that its intensive study should help us in strengthening
our cultural ties with our neighbours.
Another important reason why we should interest our­
selves in the study of Pali more than we have done is that
Pali literature is a storehouse of basic material which would
be invaluable in rewriting many a dark chapter of ancient
Indian history.
The fact that the whole of this literature revolves round
the personality of the Buddha makes it all the more valu­
able for students of Buddhism. Neumann, in his preface to
the translation of the Majjhima-nikaya, once wrote: “One
who knows Pali needs no light from outside.” It might
sound like the outburst of a devoted heart, but he was not
far from the truth.
Among the Pali writers and exponents of Buddhism
who have helped us and continue to help us to understand
the abstruse teachings of the Buddha, to harmonize the ap­
parently conflicting teachings of the Master, and to grasp
the inner meaning of the doctrine, four illustrious names
stand out—Nagasena, Buddhadatta. Buddhaghosa and
Dhammapala. After the Pali scriptures, the Milinda-pafiha
or ‘Questions of King Milinda', supposed to have been
compiled by Mahathera Nagasena. is considered almost as
authoritative a text.
What can be said almost with certainty is that the
Milinda-panha must have been written either at the time of
Menander or after him, but surely before the time o(
Buddhaghosa, who has so often quoted Nagasena’s
Milinda-pafiha as an authority. That is to say. it must
have been written between 150 B.C. and 400 A.D. Even
when it is conceded that ‘Questions of Milinda’ has some
historical basis, it remains to be considered as to who com­
piled the book, when it was written, whether additions and
interpolations were made, and, if so. when they were made.
It has been suggested that the Milinda-panha is not a
unitary text. Its different chapters are written in more
than one style. Hence it is probable that some chapters arc
later additions. A conclusive proof of the above theory,
however, is the fact that the book was translated into
Chinese between 317 A.D. and 420 A.D. and that its
Chinese version, known as the Nagasena-sutra. contains only
the first three chapters of the Milinda-pafiha. From this
it has been concluded that the remaining four chapters of
the Milinda-panha are later additions. Still another fact
which .supports the above view is that, at the end of the
third chapter, it is stated that the questions of King Milinda
have come to an end and the fourth chapter looks like a
new beginning. Admitting every possibility of later addi-
tions and interpolations we are probably not altogether justi­
fied in setting aside the assumption that Nagasena, or
whoever the author may have been, wrote the whole of the
book as it has come down to us. For it is not impossible
that the Chinese translator himself preferred to limit his
translation only to the first three chapter^.
The Milinda-panha. as it stands at present, contains
seven chapters. Out of these seven, the first one is largely
personal and historical while the others are all doctrinal.
It is strange that while Nagasena took so much pains to
tell us about his past life and that of King Menander, he
does not give us much information about his present life.
Humility bordering on self-effacement has been a general
characteristic of all our ancient writers. This much, how­
ever, can easily be derived from the Milinda-panha that
the birth-place of the Elder Nagasena was Kajarigala. a
well-known town near the Himalayas on the eastern border
of the Middle country and that his father was a brahmana
called Sonuttara. When Nagasena was well versed in the
study of the three Vedas, history and other subjects, he
studied the Buddha's doctrine under the Elder Rohana and
entered the Order. Later he studied under the Elder
Assagutta of Vattaniya. Afterwards he was sent to
Pataliputra (Patna) where he made a special study of the
Buddha’s doctrine. In the end he proceeded to the
Saiikheyya monastery of Sagala, where he met King Milinda.
Menander was not satisfied with the contemporary re­
ligious teachers, and his arrogance found expression in the
following sentiments: “Jambudvipa is empty, Jambudvipa
is hollow. Jambudvipa is devoid of any sramana or
brahmana who could argue with me.”1 In the Elder
Nagasena, however, king Menander met one who com­

1. Tucrho tuihi hho Juntbmli fto /xilapo vat a hho Jatnbudipo

N a t t h i k o i’i M onta no r f i H rd h n ta n o va tfo itiat/th ho fid h im *nll]>itm n
attkkoti konkhnm pa(ioi node turn ti
( M ilm d a, p . 5 .)
pletely subdued him not only with his superior intellect
but also with his impressive and persuasive diction. It is
said that as soon as they had exchanged formal greetings,
the King said: “Sir. what is your name? How are you
known?”
“ Maharaja, 1 am known as Nagasena. My brother
bhikkhus address me thus. Parents call their children
Nagasena, Surasena, etc., but all this is just usage. In
reality there does not exist any individual as such.”
This statement of the Elder Nagasena set the ball roll­
ing and there followed a series of questions and answers,
including the famous chariot illustration which maintained
that just as the parts of a chariot put together make a
chariot, and there is no chariot apart from them, similarly
the different components of an individual make an indivi­
dual and that the individual does not exist apart from them.
No more profound, or appealing statement of the doc­
trine of Anatmavada can be found than the above enun­
ciation of the Elder Nagasena in the whole of Buddhist
literature, with the exception of the scriptures. Thus the
Milinda-panha is a comprehensive exposition not only of
Buddhist metaphysics, but also of Buddhist ethics and
psychology. As such, it is indispensable for the student of
Buddhism. Apart from its importance as a Buddhist text,
the Milinda-pafiha is also to be valued as a historical docu­
ment and a literary achievement of great eminence. The
Milinda-panha provides an unsurpassed testimony to Indian
prose literature of the first century. In short, the Milinda-
panha occupies a unique position in Indian letters, whether
looked at from the point of view of metaphysics, or litera­
ture. or history, or knowledge of geography. It is an in­
disputable fact that in post-canonical literature, no other
treatise on Buddhism equals the Milinda-panha.
Chronologically the Milinda-panha is followed by a
number of commentaries1 on the different texts of the sacred
1. For a complete li»t of these commentaries, see E. W. Adikaran ,
Early History of Buddhism in Ceylon, pp. 1-2.
 scriptures. More than half of these are ascribed by tradi­
tion to Buddhaghosa. Undoubtedly he was the greatest
commentator that the sacred Buddhist texts have known.
Before we discuss the life and works of Buddhaghosa,
it would perhaps be desirable to begin with an account of
Buddhadatta who, though a contemporary of Buddhaghosa,
had preceded him in Ceylon. According to the Buddha-
ghosuppatti, Acarya Buddhadatta had gone earlier to
Ceylon to study the word of the Buddha. When he was on
his way to India after having completed his studies, his
boat crossed another which carried Acarya Buddhaghosa to
Ceylon. As they met each other, they introduced them­
selves and exchanged greetings. Acarya Buddhaghosa said,
“The doctrine (commentaries) of the Buddha is available
in the Simhalese language. I am proceeding to Ceylon to
render them into Magadhi.” Buddhadatta replied, “Bro­
ther, 1 too had come to Ceylon for the same purpose, but
as I shall not live very long now, 1 cannot finish the task.”1
As the two Elders were still conversing, the boats passed
each other beyond hearing.
It appears that as they departed, Buddhadatta requested
Buddhaghosa to send copies of each of his commentaries to
him in India, which in all probability Buddhaghosa did.
Buddhadatta later summarized Buddhaghosa’s commen­
taries on the Abhidhamma-pitaka in the Abhidhanimava-
tara and those on the Vinaya-pitaka in the Vinaya-vinicchya.
Buddhadatta had come from Uragapur, the present Uraipur,
in the kingdom of Cola. Like Buddhaghosa, he too had
lived and studied the Buddha’s doctrine at the Mahavihara
in Anuradhapur. On his return from Ceylon, he wrote his
books in a vihara built by a certain Vaisnava called Krsna-
dasa or Visnudasa, on the banks of the Kaveri.
Among Buddhadatta’s works, the Abhidhammavatara

I. Amtso Buddha gho»a ahum Utyd, pubb* Lankadrip? Bhuyatufo

Sds/btarn k&lum dqatornhi ti vatrd nfuitri app&yuko. . *
(Buddhagho»uppatti, p. 50, quoted in Bliarat Singh Upadhyaya’* P qU
Sahitt/a kd Itihdm .)
stands supreme. Although it is only a summary of Buddha-
ghosa’s commentaries on the Abhidhamma-pitaka, Buddha­
datta did not follow Buddhaghosa blindly. According to
Buddhaghosa, there are five metaphysical ultimates, i.e., rupa
(forms), vedana (sensations), sanna (perceptions;, sankhara
(various intellectual differentiations), and vinnana (conscious*
ness), but in the Abhidhammavatara Buddhadatta classified
and dealt with them as citta (consciousness), cetasika (cons*
tituents of consciousness), rOpa (forms), and nibbana.
And now to turn to the greatest name of post-Tripitaka
literature. What did Buddhaghosa do to serve and lengthen
the period of Buddha-sasana? It is almost certain that
there is no other example like his. Considered not only
from the point of view of its magnitude but also for its im­
portance, it is hardly credible that a single individual could
contribute so much towards the enrichment of Pali literature.
Among the books which shed some light on the personal
life of Buddhaghosa, the Mahavamsa alone can claim to have
provided reliable material. Besides the Mahavamsa, there are
the Buddhaghosupatti, the Gandhavamsa, and the Sasana-
varnsa, but these contain little useful information.
According to the Mahavamsa. Buddhaghosa was born
near Bodh Gaya. Another view is that he came from the
Tailanga country. The Burmese claim that Burma was his
birth-place. Whatever may be the truth, it is believed that
he stayed at Bodh Gaya for a long period. At this time the
vihara at Bodh Gaya was in the hands of thebhikkhus from
Ceylon. In the fourth century A.D., Kirti Sri Mcghavarna
of Ceylon, with the permission of Maharaja Samudra Gupta,
had caused a vihara to be built at Bodh Gaya, so that the
bhikkhus sent from Ceylon to worship Vajrasana might
experience no difficulty.
In Buddhaghosa’s time. Pali Buddhism in India had lost
much of its popularity. Sanskrit had regained the upper
hand. Even Buddhist scholars had accepted Sanskrit as
the medium of expression. ASvaghosa, who lived in the
first century A.D., wrote his poetical works in Sanskrit.
 Similarly, great thinkers like Nagarjuna, Vasubandhu and
Dinnaga also wrote in Sanskrit. Even the Gupta kings no
longer showed any interest in Pali and patronized Sanskrit.
Thus, both Pali and Theravada gradually dwindled into
insignificance in India.
However, the bhikkhus who then resided at Bodh Gaya,
even in the 5th century when Buddhaghosa was initiated
into the Order, stood firm in their allegiance to Pali. At
that time Mahasthavira Revata was the head of the monas­
tery at Gaya.
In those days religious discussions were very common
in the country. Ghosa1, who was eminently versed in the
Vedas and allied literature, and well qualified to hold
his own in arguments, went from place to place in quest of
adversaries. One day the Mahasthavira heard Ghosa recit­
ing sutras from Patanjali. He was so impressed by the
correctness of Ghosa’s pronunciation that, probably with
the intention of converting him to Buddhism, he engaged
in a discussion with him. Ghosa asked, “Do you under­
stand these sOtras?” “ Yes, I do; they are faulty.”
Mahasthavira Revata criticized these sutras so severely
that Ghosa was struck dumb. Then Ghosa requested
Mahasthavira Revata to enunciate his doctrine, whereupon
the latter read an extract from the Abhidhamma-pitaka. It
was beyond Ghosa's comprehension. He asked. “Whose
mantra is this?” Mahasthavira replied. “ It is the Buddha-
mantra.” Ghosa again asked. “Would you please teach it
to me?” “ Provided you enter the Order according to the
rules of the Sangha”, was Mahasthavira’s reply. Ghosa
was ordained and came to be known as Buddhaghosa.
Under Mahasthavira Revata, he studied both the Dharma
and the Vinaya and later became renowned as the greatest
exponent of the doctrine of the Buddha.
While living at the vihara where Buddhaghosa received
his ordination, he compiled his first book, namely, Sano-
daya. Then, according to tradition, he wrote the Atflia-
1. This is believed to be Bu<l<lhaghona’tt original name.
 salini, a commentary on the Dhamma-sangani. Hearing that
he was about to start writing a commentary on the Paritta-
suttas. his teacher, Mahasthavira Revata, instructed him
thus:
“The original Tripitaka alone has been brought here from
Ceylon. Here we neither possess commentaries, nor the tra­
dition coming down from various teachers. But in Lanka,
there are commentaries originally brought down by the wise
Mahinda and later translated into the language of the island.
Go there and study them, so that they may be beneficial
to all.” '
As asked by his teacher, Buddhaghosa started for Ceylon
and arrived there during the reign of King Mahanama. Hav­
ing taken up his residence in a building of the Mahavihara,
known as Mahapadhana, he heard all the Simhalese com­
mentaries and the tradition of the Elders from Thera
Sanghapala and was convinced that they were the exact and
true teachings of the Tathagata.' Then he made the follow­
ing solemn request to the bhikkhu Sangha: “ 1 want to trans­
late the commentaries from Simhalese into Magadhi. 1
should have free access to all the books.*’•’ Thereupon, the
bhikkhus gave him two stanzas in Pali in order to test his
ability and asked him to comment upon them. Buddhaghosa
wrote a compendium of the whole of the Tripitaka and
named it Visuddhimagga or the Path of Purity. Highly
satisfied with this performance, the bhikkhus entrusted him
.
1 Tattha Nanoday&m n&tna katrd jxikaranam Indit
I)hainniamtngan ti/aku*i kaiidaw so A i' thawlim .
Parittaffhakatham ceist kntum arabhl buddhima,
T<nn dhva Hcvato Thcro idat/t varainnit abruvi,
Palimattam idhdnitam natthi A t thakatha idha,
Tath&cariyavada ca bhinnwrupa na vijjare
Sihalat thakatha sudd ha M ahindtnu matimula,
Sangllittayam drulhutn S(tmtndsambuddha*dff<itaw
K ata Sihulabhasaya Sihaletru pavuttali,
Tam tattha yantvd suivd tram Mayadhdnam nirvttiya,
Parivattehi sd hoti mbbalokahitavahd.
( Milfoil vanish, 37,225-230.)
2. DhammaMamissa eso va ndhippayo ii nievhiya (Mahuvumfca. 37,233).
3. a( thakatha m mama potthake detha (Mflhflvnmsa, 37,234).
 with the whole of the literature. Residing in Granthakara
Parivena at Anuradhapur. Buddhaghosa completed his task
of rendering Simhalese commentaries into Magadhi. There­
after he returned to his mother country and there worshipped
the Bodhi tree.'
Scholars like Prof. D. Kosambi for some reason do
not believe that North India was the birth-place of Buddha­
ghosa and favour the Burmese tradition that he came from
the South. Prof. Kosambi even doubts that Buddhaghosa
was a brahmana.2 We. on our part, do not see any serious
objection to believing the Mahavamsa tradition, according to
which he was a brahmana born in North India.
It is not known where this great Pali commentator
attained nirvana. In Cambodia, there is an ancient vihara
known as Buddhaghosa Vihara and a living tradition that
Buddhaghosa spent his last days in that country. There is
no reason to doubt this belief.
It would be beyond the scope of this biographical note to
discuss all the sources of the Pali commentaries but a brief
introduction to some of Buddhaghosa's works may not be out
of place.
The Visuddhimagga was the first work of Buddhaghosa
in Ceylon. In it ‘something of almost everything’ in early
Buddhist literature may be found. Throughout the book,
Buddhaghosa quotes freely from almost the whole of canoni­
cal and even post-canonical literature. As the Mahavamsa
states, it is truly *a summary of the three Pitakas together
with the commentary’.
As regards the other works of Buddhaghosa we cannot be
definite as to the chronological order in which they were
written. Nor does internal evidence help us in placing them
in any chronological order, for almost every commentary is
1. V'.mdjilwa so Moh&bwlh i/// Jarnbudlpam updgnmi ( Maha va msa, 37,246).
2. F or.D . Kosmnbi’s view, bis Preface (xii-xri) to his DBvanagari
edition of the ViMuddhirrittgtfn and confirmation of his views about Buddba-
ghosn’s birth-place in an article by Dr. R. Subrahmanyain and Mr. S. P.
Nairiar in Journal of Oriental Research, Madras, Vol. X IX , part IV (1952),
pp. 278-284.
mentioned in the other commentaries. The Samanta-
pasadika is a commentary on the Vinaya. This voluminous
work was written at the request of Thera Buddha Siri. In
the introduction to the Samanta-pasadika, Buddhaghosa
himself describes his work as follows: “ In commencing
this commentary, having embodied therein the Maha-
atthakatha, without excluding any proper meaning from the
decisions contained in the Maha-paccari, as also in the
famous Kurundi and other commentaries and including the
opinion of the Elders . . . from these commentaries, after
casting off the language, condensing detailed accounts, includ­
ing authoritative decisions, without overstepping any Pali
idiom (I shall proceed to compose my work).” In addition,
Buddhaghosa wrote a commentary on the Patimokkha known
as the Karikhavitarani or the Matikatthakatha. It was based
on the Mahavihara tradition and was written at the request
of a thera named Sona.
Buddhaghosa also wrote commentaries on the four prin­
cipal Nikayas, the Sumahgalavilasini on the Digha, the
Papancasudani on the Majjhima, the Saratthappakasini on the
Samyutta and the Manorathapurani on the Anguttara. The
Sumahgalavilasini was written at the request of Thera
Dathanaga of the Sumahgala Parivena. The name of the
commentary was probably suggested by the name of the
Parivena itself. The Papancasudani was written at the re­
quest of Thera Buddhamitta. He was a friend of the com­
mentator with whom he had lived at Mavuia-pattana in South
India. The Saratthappakasini is said to have been written
at the request of another thera named Jotipala.
Among these, special mention may be made of the
Manorathapurani, the commentary on the Anguttara-nikaya.
It contains biographical notes on almost all the chief
disciples of the Lord Buddha, besides an enumeration of the
names of all the places where the Buddha went during the
rainy season. According to the Manorathapurani, the
Tathagata had spent his rainy seasons at the following
places:
 Rainy seasons Places
First Rsi-patana
Second to fourth Rajagrha
Fifth Vaisali
Sixth Mankula-parvata
Seventh Trayastrimsa Heaven
Eighth Bhesakafavana, near
Sumsumara-giri.
Ninth Kausambi
Tenth Pari leyyaka
Eleventh Naja
Twelfth Veranja
Thirteenth Caliya-parvata
Fourteenth Jetavana in Sravasti
Fifteenth Kapilavastu
Sixteenth AJavI
Seventeenth Rajagrha
Eighteenth to nineteenth Caliya-parvata
Twentieth Rajagrha
Twenty-first to forty- Jetavana or Pubba-
sixth. rama in Sravasti.1
The Visuddhimagga and the commentaries on the four
Nikayas mentioned above are undoubtedly the works of
Buddhaghosa. though there may be some dispute about the
other works attributed to him. Buddhaghosa is also credited
with the commentaries on the four books belonging to the
Khuddaka-nikaya, namely. Dhammapada, Jataka, Khuddaka-
patha. and Suttanipata.
The Dhammapadatthakatha is also a Pali translation of an
original Simhalese commentary. Some scholars suggest that
this is not the work of the great commentator Buddhaghosa.
Their chief argument is the diirerence in style, which may
well be due to the difference in the subject matter.
Ihe Jatakatthakatha is an extensive commentary which
was written at the request of three theras. namely,
Atthadassi. Buddhamitta and Buddhadeva. Buddhadeva is
I. A Cm., ii, Il'4-25; rf. Bu<Mhnvanis;i Cm., p. 3; MCm., ii, U»5.
 SOMV. ORtAT BViDOHBTS AFTIR ASOKA 217

mentioned as belonging to the Mahisasaka sect. but the

Jatakatthakatha is wholly based on the Mahavihara recension.
This indicates that there was no antagonistic feeling between
the Theravada and the Mahisasaka sects, at least at that time.
The Paramatthajotika constitutes the commentaries on
the Khuddaka-patha and the Suttanipata. In all probability,
these two commentaries were not written by the great com­
mentator but by another author bearing the same name.
The commentaries on the seven texts of the Abhidhamma-
pitaka were also written by Buddhaghosa at the request
of a thera bearing the same name. They too are based on
the original Simhalese commentaries as well as on the accept­
ed tradition of Mahavihara. There are also the AtthasalinL
a commentary on the Dhammasangani. the Sammoha-
vinodani, a commentary on the Vibhariga. and the Pancap-
pakaranatthakatha on the remaining live texts, namely, the
Dhatu-katha, the Katha-vatthu, the Puggalapannatti, the
Yamaka and the Patthana.
Buddhaghosa is also credited with the authorship of a
few other works which arc no longer available.
Even without these books, Buddhaghosa\ Visuddhimagga,
which shows his encyclopaedic knowledge, keen intellect and
deep insight, and his numerous commentaries give him an
unassailable position among Indian thinkers and scholars.
After Buddhaghosa there is at least one more commen­
tator whom we should not fail to mention. This is Thera
Dhammapala who lived at Badaratittha, a place on the south­
east coast of India. He was probably born in the South.
Since he mentions Buddhaghosa \ commentaries in his work,
it may be concluded that he came at a later period than Bud­
dhaghosa. He is credited with the writing of all the
commentaries on such books as the Khuddaka-nikaya which
had been left undone by the greal commentator, Buddha­
ghosa, i.e., on the Udana. the Itivuttaka, the Vimana-xatthu,
the Peta-vatthu, the Thera-gatha, the Theri-gafha, and the
Cariya-pitaka. All these arc joinily called ParamaUhndipani.
He has also written a commeniar\ called the Paramattha-
 manjusa. or Buddhaghosa^ Visuddhimagga. This tfka
while commenting on nava-sarira-piltuhhavo in chapter XVIT
of the Visuddhimagga says that when a body is worn out
and cast aside, a new body is born in another world, and
further echoes (p. 693 of the Burmese edition of the Tika.
M unday na Press) the famous stanza of the Bhagavadgita
(II. 22V in the following stanza:
Vatthani jinnani yafha pahaya navani ganhati
naro parani
Nikkhippa dchcun idha jinnamevcun janhati
cUtabhinavam sukhesi ti
This commentary often refers to the views of other schools
or teachers, like Vasudhamma of the Mahasanghikas or
Kanada, Kapila, Ajivika or other works like Atthasalini, the
Sammoha-vinodani and the Patthana-atthakatha. It also re­
fers to the views of the Abhayagiri school and mentions
Upatissa and his Vimuttimagga in one place. A close study
of Dhammapala s commentaries would be very helpful in
understanding the contemporary religious condition of South
India and Ceylon. Dhammapala, too, based his commen­
taries on original Simhalese works. It is probable that he
also made use of Dravidian commentaries available to him
in South India.
It is said that he wrote another commentary on a post-
canonical work, namely, the Netti. This was written at the
request of a thera called Dhammarakkhita. It is recorded
that at that time Dhammapala lived at Nagapattana in a
vihara built by King Dharmasoka.
Pali commentaries have often been bracketed with Sans­
krit bhasyas and tikas. But there is nothing in Indian
bhasya literature which could stand comparison with the Pali
Atthakatha. Along with textual explanatory notes* the
Atthakathas abound in historical material of the greatest
importance. Pali commentators have given proof of a his-
1. V&Jfdmsi jirn&ni i/athti vihaya train (jrhnati naropttranj
TathA iariran i vihdt/a jtrn d n i nnyCmi sam ynti navani dehi
toricaI sense not met with elsewhere in bhasya literature.
While the literature of Theravada Buddhism is in Pali,
the Sarvastivadins (who are classed among the Hinayanists)
and the Mahayanists chose Sanskrit as the medium of ex­
pression for their religious literature. Accordingly, some of
the authors connected with the history of Sanskrit Buddhism
are discussed here.

Sanskrit A u th o rs: Asvaghosa. Nagarjuna. Buddhapdlita and

Bhdvaviveka. Asanga and Vasubandhu. Dinndga. and
Dharmakirti
Asvaghosa, a contemporary of King Kaniska. was a
great Buddhist poet and philosopher. He occupies a unique
position not only in the history of Buddhist thought' but
also in the whole tradition of Sanskrit poetry inasmuch as
he was an important successor of Valmiki, whom he calls
‘Adi Kavi' and ‘Dhiman’, and a notable predecessor
of Kalidasa and Bhasa. Indeed, some scholars in India
and abroad believe Kalidasa owed much to him. The
chief contribution which Asvaghosa made to the history of
Buddhist thought was his emphasis on Buddha bhakti.
Though the Mahayanist teachings had been spreading for
at least two to three centuries before his time, they find the
first notable expression in his writings, in spite of the fact
that he belonged to the Sarvastivada school.
Our knowledge of Asvaghosa’s life is very scanty. From
the little information the poet has given at the end of some
of his poetical compositions, it is known that he was a
native of Saketa (Ayodhya) and that his mother's name was
Suvarnaksi. At the end of his three well-known works —
the Buddhacarita. the Saundarananda and the Sariputra-
prakarana he says. Arya Suvarndksiputrasya Sdketakasya
bhiksor acarya-bhadantdsvaghosasya mahakaver Mahava-
dinah krtir iyam. This shows that the illustrious poet was
also a scholar, a religious controversialist and an eminent
Buddhist monk, possessing great powers of argument and
discussion.
 Asvaghosa’s two important poetical compositions are the
Buddhacarita and the Saundarananda. The former is a
Mahakavya, depicting the life of Lord Buddha in a chaste
and stately style, though written with considerable restraint.
The original poem, as known to 1-tsing in the Chinese
translation in the seventh century A.D., contains 28 cantos.
The Tibetan translation also has the same number of cantos.
Hence the original Sanskrit version must also have consist­
ed of 28 cantos. Of these, only 17 are preserved in Sans­
krit today, and generally only the first thirteen are regarded
as authentic. I-tsing says that in his time this beautiful
poem was "widely read or sung throughout the five divisions
of India, and the countries of the Southern Sea”.
In this epic Asvaghosa not only gives us the best account
of the life and teachings of Lord Buddha, but also gives
evidence of his encyclopaedic knowledge of India’s mytho­
logical traditions and pre-Buddhistic philosophical systems,
notably the Sankhya. The Saundarananda-kavya narrates
the ordination by the Buddha of Nanda, his half-brother.
Besides these two significant poetical works. Asvaghosa
wrote three Buddhist dramas which were discovered by
H. Luders in Turfan in Central Asia at the beginning of this
century. Of these, the Sariputraprakarana. a prakarana in
nine acts, is the most important. It is the oldest dramatic
work extant in Sanskrit literature. Asvaghosa also wrote a
lyrical poem called the Gandistotra-gatha which consists of
29 stanzas in the sragdhara metre. E. H. Johnston questions
Asvaghosa's authorship of this work, but as Winternitz ob­
serves, “ It is a beautiful poem, worthy of Asvaghosa both
in form and content.”1
Nagarjuna. who was a friend and contemporary of the
Satavahana king. Yajnasri Gautamiputra (166 -196 A.D.),
was a Buddhist philosopher of towering personality. Fie creat­
ed an age in the history of Buddhist philosophy and gave it a
definite turn. He propounded the Madhyamika school of Bud­
dhist philosophy, which is also known as Sunyavada. A greater
1. History of Indian LitfrnUjwr .Vol. J1 (Calculi*! University, p. 26(>p
 dialectician than Nagarjuna the world has never seen. His
great philosophical work, the Madhyamika-karika or Madhya-
mika-sastra consists of 400 karikas in 27 chapters and is the
groundwork of his philosophy. It is an epitome of the teach­
ings contained in the Mahayana-sutras and displays rare in­
sight into the science of logic and unsurpassed flights of daring
thought. This work alone is enough to show what a master
mind Nagarjuna was and how he shines in solitary splendour
among the intellectuals of this country, past and present.
According to the biography of Nagarjuna translated into
Chinese by Kumarajiva in about 405 A.D., Nagarjuna was
born in South India in a Brahmana family. Yuan Chwang.
however, states that he was bom in South Kosala or the
ancient province of Vidarbha (modern Berar). Nagarjuna
studied the whole of the Tripitaka in 90 days, but was not
satisfied. He received the Mahayana-sutra from a very old
monk in the Himalayas, but spent most of his life at Sri Par-
vata or Sri Sailam in South India which he made into a centre
for the propagation of Buddhism. The Tibetan accounts
show that Nagarjuna lived at Nalanda also. Yuan Chwang
speaks of 'the four suns which illumined the world’. One of
these was Nagarjuna. the other three being Asvaghosa,
Kumaralabdha (Kumaralata) and Aryadeva. Indeed as a
philosophical thinker. Nagarjuna has no match in the history
of Indian philosophy. T. Watters rightly calls him ‘one of
the wonders and mysteries of later Buddhism’.1
About twenty treatises available in Chinese translations are
generally ascribed to Nagarjuna. Of these, eighteen are men­
tioned by Bunyiu Nanjio in his Catalogue as Nagiirjuna's com­
positions. A reference has already been made to the Madhya­
mika-karika or the Madhyamika-sastra as the principal work
of Nagarjuna who himself wrote a commentary on it called
the Akutobhaya, ‘The Safe One’.' Mention may be made

1. On Yuan Chwang*s Travels in h id ia , Vol. If , p. 203.

2. The Tibetan text was translated into Sanskrit by the late Miss
Indu D atar for a thesis for the D octor’s degree of the U niversity of Bombay
which is not yet published.
 here of only one more treatise of Nagarjuna, which he wrote
as a letter to his friend. Yajna Sri Gautamiputra. This
treatise is known as the Suhrllekha or ‘Letter to a Friend\
I-tsing tells us that at the time of his visit to India he saw
children committing it to memory and adults making a life­
long study of it. This treatise shows unmistakably that
Nagarjuna was not a destructive thinker as he is generally
supposed to be and morality plays as important a role in
his philosophy of Sunyata as in any other philosophical
discipline.
Sthavira Buddhapalita and Bhavaviveka (or Bhavya) may
be mentioned here as important exponents of the ^unyavada
doctrine propounded by Nagarjuna. They both belong to
the fifth century A.D. and their chief importance in the history
of Buddhist thought lies in the fact that they are the respec­
tive founders of two schools of logical thinking known as the
Prasangika and the Svatantra schools. The Prasangika school
founded by Buddhapalita attempts to develop a method of
reasoning in which an individual in order to establish his posi­
tion puts such questions to his adversary as would defeat
him completely and make his position absurd. The
Svatantra school as propounded by Bhavya, tries to establish
the truth of the Madhyamika doctrines by advancing
independent (svatantra) arguments. Aryadeva. Santideva*
Santaraksita and Kamalasila are other distinguished thinkers
of the Madhyamika school.
The two illustriuos brothers. Asanga and Vasubandhu.
who both lived in the fourth century A.D.. are among those
creative thinkers who brought about what may be called the
classical age of Buddhist philosophy. They were in fact three
brothers, of whom Asanga was the eldest. Vasubandhu was
the second brother, while the youngest was called Virincivatsa.
Asanga and Vasubandhu were born in P u ru sa p u ra in the
Gandhara country. They belonged to a Brahmana family of
Kausika gotra and were well versed in Brahmanical learn­
ing. They were educated in Kashmir where they studied the
Vibhasa-sastra. Originally Asanga and Vasubandhu be­
longed to the Sarvastivada school which held sway in
Kashmir and Gandhara in those days. They also sojourned
in Ayodhya for some time. According to Paramartha. the
biographer of Vasubandhu. the latter died in Ayodhya at
the age of eighty.
Asanga has been regarded as the most prominent teacher
of the Yogacara or Vijnanavada school. He also induced
his younger brother. Vasubandhu. to leave the Sarvastivada
school and join the new school. Asanga was a pupil of
Maitreyanatha who is regarded as the founder of the Vij­
nanavada school. The most important works of Asanga
are the Mahayana-samparigraha, the Prakarana-aryavaca. the
Yogacara-bhumi-Sastra and the Mahayana-sutralankara.1
The last two works are most important from the ethical and
doctrinal points of view. The Yogacara-bhumi-sastra,
which in its original Sanskrit form Jias been discovered by
Rahul Sankrityayan. is divided into seventeen bhumis and
describes in detail the path of discipline according to the
Yogacara school. The Mahayana-sutralankara is the joint
work of Asanga and his teacher Maitreyanatha. The
karikas were written by Maitreyanatha and their commentary
by Asanga.
Vasubandhu, who in the latter part of his life joined the
Vijnanavada school of Mahayana Buddhism at the inspira­
tion of his elder brother, was a celebrated teacher of the
Vaibhasika branch of the Sarvastivada school. His greatest
work, the Abhidharma-kosa. is an encyclopaedia of Buddhist
philosophy and was written originally from the point of view
of the Vaibhasika branch of the Sarvastivada school, which
was dominant in Kashmir, as the author himself observes at
the end of the work, KusmiravaibhasikanUisiddhah prdyo
mayayam kathito ’bhidharmalt. This grand work written in
600 karikas proved invaluable for the propagation of Bud­
dhism in Asia. It is not possible here to give an idea of the
1. The Abhidharma-8amu<?caya, recently edited from an incomplete
manuscript by Prof. Prahlad Pradhan and published in Vi*va lih4wati Studue,
Santiniketan, might also be added.
 philosophy contained in the Abhidharma-kosa. Suffice it to
say that from the very beginning this useful work elicited
praise not only from the Buddhists but also from others.
Thus, in the seventh century, Bana while describing the her­
mitage of the Buddhist monk, Divakaramitra, in his Harsa-
carita says that even the parrots there explained the Kosa
(i.e., the Abhidharma-kosa) to one another. Sukairapi Sakya-
sdsanakusalaifj kosam samitpadisadbhih. Yasomitra, who
■wrote a commentary named the Sphutartha on Vasubandhu’s
Abhidharma-kosa-bhasya', says that, on account of his spiri­
tual attainments, Vasubandhu was known as a second Buddha
by his contemporaries. Yam buddhimatdm agryam dvitiya-
miva Buddham it yah ah.’ This is no ordinary praise for a mor­
tal. The vast commentarial literature written on the Abhi­
dharma-kosa points to the great influence the work has
exercised on men’s minds. Besides the Abhidharma-kosa.
Vasubandhu wrote the Paramartha-saptati which was an attack
on the Sarikhya-saptati of the well-known Sankhya tcachcr,
Vindhyavasi, who was a contemporary of Vasubandhu. He
also wrote two treatises on logic, namely, the Tarka-siistra
and the Vada-vidhi. As a Mahayanist teacher he wrote com­
mentaries on the Saddharma-pundarika-sutra, the Mahaparinir-
vana-sutra and the Vajracchedika-prajna-paramita. He has
also given us an invaluable little book called the Vijnapti-
matrata-siddhi. It is found in two recensions entitled the
Vimsika and the Trimsika which contain twenty and thirty
karikas respectively.
Among the inheritors of Vasubandhu mention should be
made of Sthiramati, the younger Dharmapala and his pupil
Candrakirti.
In the history of Buddhist logic the name of Dinnaga
occupies a pre-eminent place. He is the founder of Bud­

1. Vasubandhu wrote hia own Bhasya on the Kosa. The manuscript

of this also was recovered from Tibet by Rahul Sankrityayan and io under­
stood to have been edited by Prof. Prahlad Pradhan for publication by
the Jayftflwal Research Institute, Patna.
2. Opening lines of the Sphutartha.
 dhist logic and has been called the Father of Medieval
Nyiiya as a whole. He lived at the beginning of the fifth
century A.D. According to Tibetan sources he was born in
Simha-Vaktra. a suburb of Kancl jn the South, in a Brah­
mana family. He was first a Hinayanist Buddhist of the
Vatsiputriya sect and later devoted himself to the teachings
of Mahiiyanism. According to the Tibetan tradition, he was
a pupil of Vasubandhu. Dinnaga also went to the Nalanda
Mahavihara where he defeated a Brahmana logician named
Sudurjaya in a religious discussion. He also toured the pro­
vinces of Odiviwi (Orissa) and Maharattha (Maharashtra),
holding religious contests with scholars. He is said to have
died in a jungle in Orissa. Dinnaga is credited with the
authorship of about a hundred treatises on logic. Most of
these are still preserved in Chinese and Tibetan translations
and have been mentioned by Bunyiu Nanjio in his famous
Catalogue. I-tsing says that Dinnaga's treatises on logic
were read as text-books at the time of his visit to India.
Among the most important works of Dinnaga are the
Pramana-samuccaya. his greatest work, the Nyaya-pravesa,
the Hetucakra-damaru. the Pramana-sastra-nyayapravesa. the
Alambana-pariksa and several others, all written in a terse
and difficult style. In his works Dinnaga criticized some of
the theories propounded by Vatsyayana in his Nyaya-bhasya.
It was as a defence of Vatsyayana's position, that Udyotakara
later wrote the Nyaya-viirtika. Dinnaga is thus an impor­
tant link between the Buddhist and the orthodox Nyaya sys­
tems of India.
Dharmakirti. who was born in a village named Tirumalai
in the Coja country, was a successor of Dinnaga and a logi­
cian of unsurpassed genius. Dr. Stcherbatsky rightly regards
him as the Kant of India. Even his Brahmanical adver­
saries have acknowledged the superiority of his reasoning
powers. Dharmakirti lived in ‘.he seventh century. He
studied logic from Tsvarasena who was among Dinnaga’s
pupils. Later, he went to Nalanda and became a disciple of
Dharmapala who was at that time the Sangha-sthavira of the
Mahavihara and a prominent teacher of the Vijfianavada
school. Dharmakirti’s fame as a subtle philosophical thinker
and dialectician was till recently shrouded in obscurity.
Rahul Sankrityayan has done signal service not only to
Buddhism but to Indian logic by discovering in Tibet the
original Sanskrit version of the Pramana-vartika. the magnum
opus of Dharmakirti.' The other important works written
by Dharmakirti are the Pramana-viniscaya. the Nyaya-bindu.
the Sambandha-pariksa. the Hetu-bindu. the Vadanyaya
and the Samanantara-siddhi. All these works deal
generally with the Buddhist theory of knowledge and dis­
play great erudition and subtle thinking. Dharmakirti’s
writings mark the highest summit reached in epistemological
speculation by later Buddhism. They have also a place in
the general development of Nyaya-sastra in India. In fact,
it was through the incentive provided by Dharmakirti that
Vacaspati Misra in the ninth century came forward to write
his Nyaya-vartika-tatparya-tika in defence of the writer of the
Nyaya-vartika whom Dharmakirti attacked in his writings.
B. I n T ib e t

Acarya Dipankara Srijnana

Acarya Diparikar Srijnana’s name stands foremost among
the Indians who had worked selflessly to bring Tibet and India
closer together culturally. In Tibet his fame is only next
to that of the Buddha and Padmasambhava. Undoubtedly,
of all the Indian scholars who went to Tibet from India,
the greatest were Acarya Santaraksita and his disciple,
Acarya KamalaSila. Acarya Dipankara, too, was a great
scholar and he stands higher than the other two in making
available priceless Sanskrit works in Tibetan. It is interest­
ing to note that with a few exceptions, all Indian names are
known to Tibetans in translated forms. Thus Dipankara
Srijnana is known in Tibet as Dpal-mar-med-mdsa Ye-^es
1. A oomm rntary on thin work called PramAna-v&rtika-bhisya or
\ a i ‘tika-alanknra)> by l ’rajnukp.ragupta w a s published in 1953 by the Jayaawal
Research Institute, Patna.
and Santaraksita as Shi-Va-Chho. The Tibetans also call
Acarya Dipankara Jo-Vo-rJe Pal Dan Atisa (Svami SrT
Atisaya) or merely AtiSa.
Acarya Dipankara’s father was king Kalyana SrT, and
his mother SrT Prabhavatl. He was born in the ‘water-man-
horse’ year (i.e., the year of Manmath, Vikram era 1039.
982 A.D.) in Sahor in eastern India. Not far from the
Kalyana Srf palace where Dipankara was bom, was the
Vikrama-vihara. which was also called the Vikramasila1
Vihara. There has been useless controversy as to whether
Dipankara was born in Bengal or in Bihar. Authoritative
Tibetan sources leave us in no doubt that he was born in
Bhagalpur.
The parents of Dipankara were intimately connected with
the Vikramasila Vihara which was widely known through­
out the Buddhist world in those days. According to tradi­
tion, at his birth, his parents went to this vihara for worship
and took him with them in a procession of 500 chariots.
The King had three sons—Padmagarbha, Candragarbha and
Srigarbha. The second. Candragarbha, became famous as
Dipankara Srijnana when he took the Order.
As was customary for the children of the nobility at that
time, the astrologers predicted many wonderful things about
Candragarbha when he was born. He was an intelligent
child and was sent to school at the age of three. By the
age of eleven, he had mastered the three R’s and had
become a grammarian. However, since Prince Candragarbha
was not the eldest son of the king, he was not destined for
the throne.
In those days higher education was provided only at the
viharas Fortunately, the world-famous Vikramasila Maha­
vihara was not far from his father’s capital, but Nalanda
was still held in great esteem. The prince while roaming
one day went by chance to a nearby jungle. There he met
Acarya Jitari2 who lived in a cottage.
1. See note on this word in C hapter V III, p. 177.
2. See note on this name in the Appendix to this Chapter.
 Jitari was renowned as a grammarian and erudite scholar.
“Who are you?” he asked the prince. “ I am the son of
the master of the land”, replied Candragarbha.
Jitari thought that this answer showed pride. “We
neither have any master nor any slave. If you are the ruler
of the land, then go away”, he answered.
This was the age of the eighty-four Siddhas, and Tilopa
and Naropa were still alive. Although Jitari was not
counted among these eighty-four, the prince knew that, not­
withstanding his great scholarship, he had forsaken the world.
Very humbly he told him that he wanted to renounce the
world.
At this, Jitari advised him to go to Nalanda, as he
thought that if the prince was ordained too close to his
father’s capital, it would be difficult for him to overcome pride.
No one, however, was allowed to become a Buddhist monk
without the consent of his parents. Candragarbha did not
find it easy to persuade his father and mother to share his
desire. Finally, when he was permitted to go to Nalanda
with a few attendants, the King of Nalanda expressed sur­
prise. “How is it that you have come here, although you
have the mahavihara of Vikramasila in your neighbour­
hood?” he asked.
The prince spoke to him of the greatness of the Nalanda.
At this, the King relented and recommended him for resi­
dence at the Nalanda Vihara. Accordingly, the prince
reported himself to the head of the vihara; Bhiksu
Bodhibhadra. As one could be initiated as a bhiksu only at
•he age of twenty, the prince had perforce to wait for nearly
nine years. Meanwhile, however. Acfcrya Bodhibhadra ini­
tiated him into the life of a sramana (novice), made him
vvear saffron-coloured clothes and called him Dipankara
Srijnana. In Buddhist lore, Dipankara is a highly revered
name, because it was the name of a Buddha who came long
before Sakyamuni. the historical Buddha. Srijnana was
added to his name as he was expected to become a scholar.
Maitri Gupta, the guru of Bodhibhadra, was living then.
 He had abandoned the path of scholarship and taken to the
ways of the Siddhas. Consequently, he was called Maitrlpa
Advayavajra or Avadhutipada. Bodhibhadra once took
his young disciple to Avadhutipada who lived at Rajagrha,
and prevailed upon him to accept Dipankara as a disciple.
The guru agreed and the twelve year old Dipankara stayed
with him until he was eighteen. In this period, he made a
thorough study of the scriptures.
As the cult of the mantras and the Siddhas was domin­
ant in those days, he had of necessity to study these subjects.
And who could be a better guru for these than Naropa
(Nadapada or Narottamapada)? Naropa was a Siddha, but
he was also a great scholar. The Nalanda and Vikramasila
mahaviharas were great centres of learning, and prospective
pupils had to pass many difficult examinations before they
were allowed to enter these universities. At every gate of
Vikramasila there used to live an erudite scholar. Naropa
was in charge of the northern gate. From Rajagrha.
Dipankara went to him, and remained with him for eleven
years. Besides Dipankara, Naropa had many other dis­
ciples, such as Prajnaraksita, KanakaSri and Manakasri, all
of whom distinguished themselves as great scholars in later
years. Pupils came even from foreign lands to study at the
feet of Naropa. This is evident from the fact that the most
famous Siddha of Tibet (the great poet Mila Repa’s guru.
Marpa) was also a disciple of Naropa.
Dipankara completed his studies at Vikramasila, but his
thirst for knowledge was not quenched. The chief bhiksu
of Vajrasana Mahavihara at Bodh Gaya was renowned for
his learning. He was known as Vajrasanipada (Dorje
danpa), although this was not his real name. Dipankara
went to the Mati Vihara in Vajrasana and became the dis­
ciple of Mahavinayadhara Silaraksita, the great Vinaya-
pitaka scholar. He studied the Vinaya-pitaka with him for
two years. Thus, by the time he reached the age of 31,
Dipankara Srijftana had already become a master of the three
Pitakas and the Tantras. and an all-round scholar.
 A t that time Acarya Dharmapaia of Suvarna-dvipa
(modern Sumatra) was famous for his scholarship through-
out the Buddhist worJd. Indians in that age did not suffer
from the complex of having a monopoly of great learning.
In fact, one of the eighty-four Siddhas, Ratnakarasanti, who
had earned the title of Kalikala-sarvajna, omniscient of the
Kali Age, was a disciple of Acarya Dharmapaia. Jnanasri
Mitra, the great exponent of dialectics, and Ratnakirti had
also sat at the feet of Acarya Dharmapaia. Dipankara had
met these scholars at Vikramasila and had probably learnt
a good deal from the disciples of Acarya Dharmapaia.
His Wanderlust, however, was not satisfied. From Bodh
Gaya he went to the seacoast, perhaps to Tamralipti, the
present Tamluk in the Midnapur district of West Bengal. In
the Tibetan biographies of Dipankara Srijnana, there is no
other mention of his travels, but it is certain that he must
have visited Sarnath (Rsipatan), Sravasti, Kusinara and other
holy places before he set sail for Sumatra. Vijayapala
(960— 1040 A.D.) was the king of Magadha in those days.
This was the time when Mahmud Gha/navi (997— 1030 A.D.)
invaded India and plundered Kanauj, Mathura, Banaras and
Kalanjar. In his last invasion in 1023 A.D., Somnath was
laid waste. Dipankara had started on his voyage only ten
years earlier.
Dipankara travelled for fourteen months and during
this period he might have visited Burma and Malaya also.
No vestige of the Buddhist religion is left in Sumatra now
except for the ruins of some old viharas. but when Dipankara
went there, it was famous for Buddhist learning. It was
usual for foreign monks on their way lo India to stay in
Sumatra for some time to acquire proficiency in Sanskrit.
This is known from the accounts left by Chinese pilgrims
four centuries earlier.
At first, Dipankara lived quietly by himself a n d jn an y
monks came to see him. Then he went to Acarya
Dharmapaia and remained with him for twelve years,
studying the books he already knew. Of these, the Abhi-
samayalarikara by Asanga and the Bodhicaryavaia'ra by
Santideva are still extant. Dipankara was also initiated
in the mysteries of the Tantras and other scriptures. In
those days it was customary for a scholar to stay with a
great master for a long period to study the great works
methodically. Even in our own age scholars sometimes
spend something like twelve years to read only eight to ten
pages of the Tatvacintamani by Gangesh Upadhyaya.
At the age of forty-four, Dipankara Srijnana left Sumatra
and returned to Vikramasila. By virtue of his extraordi­
nary learning and ability, he became the chief among the 51
scholars and the leader of 108 temples in the vihara.
Siddha Bhutakotipada Santipada and Avadhutipada were
all responsible for what he became eventually. Avadhuti­
pada was the disciple of Siddha Damrupa and was the grand
disciple of the great Siddha poet. Kanhapa. Jalandharapa,
the guru of Kanhapa, was one of the most important among
the eighty-four Siddhas. Dipankara was thus not only a
great scholar, but also well versed in the mysteries of the
Siddha cult.
At that time Nalanda. Uddantapuri (Bihar Sharif),
Vajrasana and Vikramasila were the four greatest viharas of
India. Of these, Vikramasila was the most important and
had an interesting origin. The great king Dharmapaia of the
Pala dynasty, while on a visit to these parts, was greatly
attracted by the sight of a beautiful hillock on the banks of
the Ganga and decided to found a vihara at the place.
The vihara, which thus came to be built at the end of 8th
century A.D., grew into a great seat of learning two and a
half centuries later. The number of students who came from
foreign parts to study here was greater than at Nalanda
Among the teachers who taught at Vikramasila were 108
scholars, eight famous savants, and the great scholar
Ratnakarasanti who w^s the head of the vihara. Santi-
bhadra, M aitnpa (Avadhutipa), pombipa Sthavirabhadra,
Smrtyakara-Siddha (a Kashmiri) and Dipankara Srijnana
were among the eight great pandits.
 There was a beautiful temple of Bodhisattva Avalokites-
vara at the centre of the vihara. besides the fifty-three big
and small temples in the compound. Among the gods and
goddesses worshipped in these temples, there were some
beautiful Tantric icons. The other three viharas also be­
longed to the kingdom of the Palas, who had special ties
with Vikramasila. The eighty-four Siddhas lived during
the Pala regime (765 —1200 A.D.) and most of them were
connected with Vikramasila in one way or another. Ac­
cording to Tibetan writers, the Tantrics of Vikramasila had
put the Turks to flight many times by magic spells, but
history has a different story to tell.
In the middle of the 9th century A.D., the Tibetan Prince,
Ni-Ma-Gon, moved to the west and founded a new kingdom.
At his death it was divided into three, and a part given to
one of his sons. Lde-Chug-gon. This king showed so much
zeal for Buddhism that Cakrasena, another son. became a
Buddhist monk and assumed the name Jnanaprabha.
It must be remembered that Buddhism came to Tibet
at a time when India was entering the age of Tantrism.
In fact by Jnanaprabha’s time. Tantrism had devoured all
the religions t>f India. In spite of this. Jnanaprabha himself
was not attracted to Tantrism. On the contrary, he wrote
a book against it. The Tantrics of Tibet believe that the
royal ascetic went lo hell for writing this book.
Jnanaprabha was the eldest son of the king of Guge
(Shen-shung) and had become bhiksu. He had read the
scriptures, was a rationalist, and had inherited from his
forefathers a great faith in Buddhism.
He realized, however, that the task of combating the
evils of Tantrism was so stupendous that his single-handed
efforts would not suffice. He therefore selected 21 intelli­
gent Tibetan youths, educated them for ten years in the
country, and then sent them to Kashmir for higher studies.
None of ihese. however, could stand the rigours of Kashmir’s
cliinale. and all of them died except Ratnabhadra (Rin-Chhen-
Zang-Po) and Suprajna (Legs-Pahi-Shes-Rab).
 Ratnabhadru is considered to be the greatest translator
in Tibet. When he returned at the end of his studies,
Devaguru Jnanaprabha was naturally delighted, but the work
of reform for which he had striven so hard was too large an
undertaking for an individual. He came to the conclusion
that since the students from Tibet found it very difficult to
stand the climate of India, it would be better if some
scholar were to come from India and work in Tibet.
Students from western Tibet used to come to the Indian
mahaviharas for study. Jnanaprabha came to learn from
them that there was a great scholar called Dipankara
Srijnana in the Vikramasila mahavihara. Accordingly, he
sent a party, properly equipped for the long journey, to
Vikramasila to invite Dipankara to Tibet. The mission
failed, however, for the party could not prevail upon the
master to undertake a journey to Tibet.
Jnanaprabha was not one to be daunted by failure. He
decided to send another party, but funds were lacking, so he
went to the Gartog Province to collect gold. This probably
refers to a place named Gartog. which was situated to the
north of the Manasarovar lake and had a gold mine. It is
recorded that the king of Gartog put him under arrest and
held him up for a big ransom. When the news of Jnanapra­
bha’s arrest reached his son, Bodhiprabha (Byang Chub Od>.
he thought that he had collected enough money to effect his
release. The amount, however, proved inadequate, but
before he could go back to obtain more money, he went to see
his father in prison. “ My son,” said Jnanaprabha, "you
know 1 am grown old. Even if I do not die immediately. I
am likely to do so within the next ten years. So, if you
squander money on me, we shall not be able to send for a
scholar from India. How splendid it would be if I were to
die for the sake of the great cause and you could send all
the gold to India to fetch the scholar! Moreover, it is not
certain that the king will release me even after he has receiv­
ed the stipulated amount of gold. So, my son, instead of
worrying about me, you had better send an emissary to
Atisa. 1 am sure he will agree to come to the country of
the Bhots (Tibet), especially when he hears about my present
plight, for he will take pity on us. If for some reason he can­
not come, then you should send for some other scholar who
has worked under him.” Thus Devaguru put his hand on
his son and blessed him as he took leave of him for the
last time.
At that time, it was customary to call all royal monks
Devaguru <Lha Bla-ma). Devaguru Bodhiprabha began to
look for people who would act as emissaries for the mission
entrusted to him by his father. The Upiisaka Guri-Thari-Pa
had been to India and lived there for two years. Devaguru
secured his services for this work. Gun Than persuaded
Bhiksu Chul-Khrims-Gyal-Va (Silajaya or Jayasila), an in­
habitant of Nag Choho. and some other people to accompany
him. In all, some ten people reached Vikramasila by way
of Nepal. The beloved disciple of Dipankara Srijnana wrote
in the Gurugunadharmakura. the biography of his teacher,
that when these ten men reached the banks of the Ganga,
the sun had already set. The boatman whose boat was al­
ready full said that he would come back to take them across
the river. But as it was getting late, the Tibetan travellers
began to have doubts about his return. They suspected foul
play, so they concealed the gold in the sand and were pre­
paring to spend the night there when the boatman returned.
The travellers said, "We thought you would not return.”
“How could I leave you on the banks of the river and thus
break the royal law?” the boatman replied.
By the lime the boatman took them across the river,
the gates had closed; so he advised the travellers to spend
the night in the inn outside the western gate. “When the
gate opens in the morning, you may go in”, be added-
Just above the gate, there lived a bhiksu called Tson Sen
(Vikramasingh). who heard the travellers talking in his
mother tongue. Naturally, his curiosity was aroused and he
enquired about the newcomers. Vikramasingh came from
1. Pron. Thim .
Gya, the last Ladakh village on the way to Kulu, which is
no longer inhabited.
When Vikramasingh was told about the object of their
visit, he advised them not to say outright that they hud
come to take Atisa to Tibet. He told them to say that they
had come to study, otherwise they could not hope lo succeed
in their mission. He also promised to take them to Atisa
ai a suitable time.
A lew days after their arrival, a congregation of
scholars met at Vikramasila. Vikramasingh took his com­
patriots there and they were able to see the scholars, especial­
ly Ratnakirti, Tathagataraksita. Sumatikirti, Vairocanaraksita
and Kanakasri, who worked under Atisa. They also saw
for themselves the high esteem in which Atisa was held.
After a few days. Vikramasingh took his countrymen to
meet the master. They saluted Atisa. placed the gold be­
fore him, and told him the tragic story of the death of the
loyal ascetic, Jnanaprabha. in prison.
Dipankara was much moved and he said, “There is no
doubt that Jnanaprabha was a Bodhisattva, the Buddha to
be, because he had sacrificed himself for the Dharma I will
fulfil his desire, but you must realize that the heavy res­
ponsibility for IOS temples rests 011 my shoulders. 1 have,
moreover, many other duties to attend to. Ii will lake me
eighteen months to be relieved of these duties. Then only
shall 1 be able to go to Tibet. In the mean time you must
keep this gold.”
The Tibetan travellers showed the utmost satisfaction at
these words of Atisa and sctlled down there, ostensibly to
study. Atisa also began to make preparations for his
departure. At this time (1030 A.D.) he was 57-58 years old,
but his age did not stand in the way of his resolution. At
the opportune moment, Dipankara informed Ratnakarasanti,
the Chief Abbot of the mahavihara, about his intentions.
Ratnakara was reluctant to let him go and said to Gun Than
Pa and his friends, “ My Tibetan friends, you say that you
have come here to study, but have you not really come to
 take Atisa away? At present Atisa is the eye of India.
Are you not aware that the Turks are knocking at the
western gates of the country? If Atisa were to leave at
this juncture, then the sun of the Dharma preached by the
Lord will set.”
Ten years earlier, in 1029 A.D., Mahmud had passed
away, but the Panjab was still under Ghazni domination.
Buddhism had almost disappeared from Central Asia with the
impact of Islam. Mahmud’s son, Masud (1030— 1040 A.D.),
was all the time poised to invade Kanauj. In the course
of the bloody wars in Central Asia, hundreds of Bud­
dhist viharas had been ruined. Thousands of bhiksus had
come to India as refugees and found shelter in the
viharas of India. Thousands of homeless men and women
wandered all over the country.
At last, the Chief of the mahavihara allowed Atisa to go
to Tibet. Atisa sent for the gold, a quarter of which he
gave to the pandits, a quarter for worship in Vajrasana
at Bodh Gaya, a quarter to Ratnakarasantipada and the rest
to the king for various religious works. Then he sent some
of the Tibetans with his own men to Nepal, and with the
interpreter, Vikrama of Gaya, and some other men, altogether
twelve people, Atisa set out for Bodh Gaya. Before leav­
ing India, he felt the need to see once more the place where
Siddhartha Gautama had become the Buddha.
Atisa visited Vajrasana a:.d many other holy places.
Then along with the scholars, Ksitigarbha and 19 others,
he reached a small vihara on the frontier of India, pom-
ton-pa writes, “at the time the mastet- left India, Buddhism
was, as it were, at its lowest ebb.” Near the frontier, AtiSa
found three helpless puppies. He took pity on them, took
them in his lap and fondled them. It is said that even today
the race of those puppies is to be found in Dan (Tibet).
Having crossed the border, AtiSa and his party entered
Nepal and arrived at the capital in due course. At this
time, King Jayakamadeva of the Thakuri Dynasty was pro­
bably the ruler of the country. He showed them the utmost
respect and asked them to stay in Nepal. Atisa could not
refuse his request and lived there for one year. During this
period he initiated one of the princes of the royal blood into
the Order.
It is from Nepal that the master wrote a letter to King
Nayapala (1040—55 A.D.) of the Pala dynasty. The letter
is available in its Tibetan translation in the Tanjur Collec­
tion.' Similar letters written by the Buddhist masters from
India are preserved in their Tibetan translations .2
Leaving Nepal behind, the master and his party reached
the Thun vihara, but meanwhile Vikramasingh, the interpre­
ter, had fallen ill. He did not recover in spite of all the
medical care bestowed on him. Atisa was greatly distressed
and lost all hope of ever reaching Tibet. "With the inter­
preter dead, it is useless for me to go to Tibet”, he said.
However, there were other interpreters, such as Jayasila,
who consoled him. As he entered the kingdom of Guge,
the men sent by the royal ascetic Bodhiprabha were already
there to welcome him. Everywhere arrangements were made
to make the stay of the master and his retinue com­
fortable. The people vied with one another in doing honour
to him. Before reaching Tho-liii. the capital of Mriah Ris
in the Manasarovar region, in the year ‘water-man-horse’
<Citra-bhanu, 1042 A.D.). the king came to receive him
reverentially and took him to the Tho-lin vihara. This
vihara had been built by the late king Jnanaprabha. The
master stayed in this vihara for nine months and preached
the Dharma. Here he translated many books and wrote his
famous work, the Bodhipatha-pradipa. The Tibetan transla­
tion of this book is still extant. Atisa lived in the MSna-
sarovar province for three years. Then he went to Purari
(Spu Rans) to the east of Manasarovar in the year *tree-man-
monkey’ (1044 A.D.). It was here that his very dear and
devoted disciple, pom-Ton-Pa, met his preceptor. He
1. Mdo-hgrel, X CIV, 33,3. Stluu,vira-nuu}Mpati4ita-Dip<jnkura-Srlj'ttancri<}
presito “ Vimnldrthahkho
2. See L ist I in Appendix to tins Chapter.
followed him everywhere like a shadow until the day he died
in 1054 A.D. He wrote a biography of his guru, which
is called the Gurugunadharmakara.
From far and near, people came to listen to the great
scholar who was always on the move and was honoured
everywhere. His knowledge of the Tibetan language was
elementary. In fact, the story goes that he did not know
the difference between the words for 'pebble’ and ‘stone slab’.
Truly speaking, Atisa had little time to spare for the Tibetan
language. Besides travelling, he had to write books and
translate or review many important Sanskrit books. His
insufficient knowledge of the language of the country, how­
ever. was no obstacle to Atisa. for he always had a com­
petent interpreter with him. The great master Ratnabhadra.
who had been sent by Jnanaprabha to Kashmir, had re­
turned as a great scholar of Sanskrit. He was at first not in
a mood to receive the Indian scholar properly. Gradually,
however, he was so greatly impressed by his scholarship and
his kind behaviour that he became one of his staunchest
devotees and assisted him in translating many important
books.
During the latter part of his long stay of thirteen years
in Tibet, Atisa spent three years jn mtfah Ris, four
years in middle Tibet and six years in Ne Than. He went to
the Sam-ye vihara in central Tibet in the year ‘fire-man-
boar’ (1047 A.D.). This was the first vihara founded by the
Indian master Santaraksita in Tibet during the regime of
Emperor Khri'-Srori-lde-btsan (755—80 A.D.) and it was
here that Tibetans were initiated for the first time as bhiksus.
Many Sanskrit books were also translated here. The library
at this vihara was so rich that the master was surprised to
find certain books that were not to be found in the viharas
of India. Unfortunately, this vihara was later reduced to
ashes, although it was rebuilt in the first half of the 13th
century by the interpreter, Vajrasri (Dorje Dpal). Dipankara
is remembered in all the places he visited even to this day.
I. Pron. Thi.
He stayed in Yer-Va in the year ‘iron-man-tiger’ (1050 A.D.).
This place lies to the north-east of Lhasa, a day’s journey
from Lhasa. Ft is here, in 1051 A.D.. that he wrote his com­
mentary on the Kalacakra. Half a day’s journey to the
south of Lhasa, there is a place called Ne Than, the last
place where Atisa lived. Here, in the year ‘tree-man-horse’
<1054 A.D.), on the 18th day of the 8th lunar month, this
great savant passed away at the age of seventy-three.

C . I n C h in a

Kumarajiva
Kumarajiva' (transliterated from the Chinese Ciu-mo-lo-
shi) was born of an Indian father and a Kuchean mother. His
father, Kumarayana, came from an illustrious family but for
some reason left the country and after an arduous journey
across the Pamirs arrived in Kuci. Here Jiva. a princess
of the royal family of Kuci, fell in love with him and ulti­
mately married him. Kumarajiva was born of this union at
Kara-shahr. Soon afterwards. Jiva was converted to Bud­
dhism and became a nun. Kumarajiva began his education
in Kuci but when he was nine years old his mother
took him to Kashmir to give him a thorough grounding in
Buddhist literature and philosophy.
His teacher in Kashmir was Bandhudatta who was later
to be converted to the Mahayana faith through the discourses
of his one-time pupil. In a few years Kumarajiva acquired
great proficiency in all branches of Buddhist learning, and at
last returned to Kuci with his mother. On the way he visited
several centres of Buddhist studies in Central Asia.
It is said that on their way back to Kuci, mother and son
met an Arhat who prophesied that if Jiva carefully guarded
her son against the temptations of youth and if he remained
blameless till his thirty-fifth year, he would one day be able
to propagate the doctrine of the Buddha among the common
people and thus bring them salvation.
1. 344-413 A.D.
 Kumarajiva acquired such eminence as a scholar that he
attracted to himself Buddhists Irom Khotan. Kashgar.
Yarkand, and other parts of Eastern Turkestan
While on a visit to Kashgar in 355 A.D . Kumarajiva was
introduced by Suryasoma in the Mahayana doctrine and
made a special study of The Madhyamika treatises.
Vimalaksa. a Buddhist monk of Kashmir, who had travelled
to China by the Central Asian route early in the 5th century,
also instructed Kumarajiva in the Sarvastivada Vinaya and
subsequently collaborated with him in the work of transla­
tion for which Kumarajiva is famous.
Not long after his return from Kashmir, a Chinese
expeditionary force was led against Kuci by Lii Kuang on
account of a rupture in the political relations of the two
countries. Kumarajiva was brought in 401 A.D. as a captive
to China, where he was already known. Scholars from all
parts of the country came to visit him and many stayed
behind as disciples.
Chinese Chronicles record that, in the year 405 A.D.. the
king Af the Tsin dynasty showed great respect to Kumarajiva.
During the latter's nine years at Changan. he organized a
translation bureau to which more than eight hundred priests
and scholars were attached. It is said that the king, himself
an ardent disciple of the new religion, held the original
texts in his hand as the work of translation proceeded and
that during that time more than three hundred volumes were
prepared under the supervision of Kumarajiva. Until he
died, in 413 A.D., he continued to devote his missionary
zeal and the knowledge he had gained to the propagation of
Buddhism, with the result that a large number of Buddhist
monasteries were established in North China. Nine-tenths
of the ordinary people are said to have been converted to
the faith of the great Indian genius. One of the reasons why
Kumarajiva and the faith he expounded were held in high
esteem in China was probably the fact that Buddhism enjoyed
the patronage of the Imperial House.
Kumarajiva is traditionally regarded as the tirst teacher
of Madhyamika doctrines in China and an expounder of
Ch’eng-shih-tsung (the Satyasiddhi school) and also of Nieh-
p’an-tsung (the Nirvana school).
The work of Kumarajiva heralded a new epoch in the
spread of Buddhism to China. With his deep knowledge of
Buddhist philosophy and its various schools and his command
of Sanskrit and Chinese. Kumarajiva was able to bring
greater clarity and distinction to his translations than the
earlier missionaries had done.
Between 402 A.D. and 412 A.D.. Kumarajiva translated
numerous works, and wrote a treatise and a number of
verses in Chinese. More than 3,000 priests became his
disciples and ten of them subsequently became famous authors
of Buddhist treatises.
The following are some of the important texts translated
by Kumarajiva:

Ta-c’-tu-lun (the Mahaprajnaparamita-sastra). Nanjio’s

Catalogue, No. 1169.
Pai-lun (the Sata-sastra), No. 1188.
Fo-shwo-o-mi-to-cin (the Sukhavatyamrta-vyuha),
No. 200.
Miao-fa-lien-hwa-cin (the Saddharmapundarika-sGtra),
No. 134.
Mo-ho-pan-jo-po-lo-mi-cin (the Mahaprajnaparamita-
sutra), No. 3.
Cin-kan-pun-jo-po-lo-mi-cin (the Vajrachedika Prajna-
pSramita-sutra), No. 10.

When Kumarajiva was on his death-bed, he is reported to

have told his followers to accept his work but not to look
upon his life as an ideal one. “The lotus grows in the mud,”
he said, “ love the lotus but not the mud.”
Kumarajiva is a symbol of the spirit of cultural co­
operation between India and Central Asia and of the efforts
made by Buddhist scholars to spread Indian culture in
China.
Paramartha
Paramartha 1 (Po-lo-mo-tho), also known as Cen-ti or
Cu-na-lo-tho, Tshin-i, and Gunarata, was a sramana of
Yiu-shan-ni, or Ujjain in western India, which was a great
centre of Sanskrit scholarship.
It is believed that after Paramartha completed his
Buddhist education at Ujjain he went to North India and
probably settled in Pataliputra. About the same time a
Chinese emperor had sent a mission to Magadha to request
the king to send a scholar who could teach the gospel of
the Buddha to China. It is generally accepted that Para­
martha accompanied the Chinese envoys back to China in
response to this request. He carried with him a large col­
lection of Buddhist texts and travelled by the sea route,
arriving in Nanking (Kien-yeh) in 548 A.D. In accordance
with the desire of the emperor, he began to translate the texts
he had brought with him and laboured continuously for
nearly ten years. Thereafter he was compelled to wander
from place to place on account of political upheavals in
China. An attempt made by him to sail to the South Sea
Islands proved unsuccessful on account of unfavourable
winds. The last years of his life were spent in solitude and
retirement and when he died in 569 A.D. at the age of
seventy-one he had left behind Chinese translations of
nearly 70 Buddhist treatises.
Paramartha, Bodhiruci, and Yuan Chwang were the three
main representatives of the Vijnana school who translated
Sanskrit texts into Chinese.
Paramartha’s career of translating Sanskrit texts can be
divided into two parts, namely, the period from 548 to
557 A.D. and that from 557 to 569 A.D. During the first
phase he translated about 10 works, of which six were in
existence in 730 A.D. In the second period, he worked on
numerous texts under the patronage of the Han dynasty and
continued his labours till he died in 569 A.D.
Paramartha established the She-lun-tsung (the Mahayana*
1. 513-569 A.D.
samparigraha-Sastra school) in China. This school was based
upon many Sanskrit texts translated by him, the most
important being the Mahayanasamparigraha-sastra, a basic
text of that school. This school had eminent disciples and
prevailed among Buddhist scholars in China for about 80
years. However, like other Buddhist schools in China, this
school, too, suffered from general political restrictions,
the deterioration of temples, and the loss of popular
support. Besides these conditions, the popularity of the
Dharmalaksana school established by Yuan Chwang might
also be considered one of the reasons for the decline of the
She-lun-tsung (the Mahayanasamparigraha-sastra school).
Paramartha greatly emphasized the necessity of studying
the Mahayanasamparigraha-sastra. but Yuan Chwang, in his
turn, translated the Vidyamatrasiddhi-sastra (Chen-wei-shi-
lun) and laid emphasis upon the necessity for the study of
selected texts, which consist of six sutras and eleven
sastras, and include the Mahayanasamparigraha-sastra.
Thus the She-lun-tsung (the Mahayanasamparigraha-sastra
school) established by Paramartha was absorbed by the
Dharmalaksana school founded by Yuan Chwang. This
school was called the New Translation Method while the
She-lun-tsung founded by Paramartha was known as the Old
Translation Method.
In spite of the fact that the She-lun-tsung was absorbed
by another school, it is a permanent Chinese Buddhist insti­
tution, since the correct understanding of the Vijnanavada
philosophy can come only through a comparative study of
the Dharmalaksana and the Mahayanasainparigraha-Sastra
schools.
Paramartha’s translation of Sanskrit texts runs into 275
volumes, of which the most important are as follows:

1. Fo-shwo-cie-tsie-cin (the Sandhinirmocana-sutra),

Nanjio, No. 151.
2. Cin-kan-pan-jo-po-lo-mi-cin (the Vajracchedika
Prajfiaparamita-sutra). No. 10.
 3. Sho-ta-shan-lun (the Mahayanasamparigraha-£3stra),
No. 1183.
4. Kun-pien-fan-pieh-lun (the Madhyantavibhaga-
sastra), No. 1248.
5. O-phi-ta-mo-ku-sho-shih-lun (the Abhidharma-kosa-
vyakhya-sastra), No. 1269.
6. Sho-ta-shan-lun-shih (the Mahayanasamparigraha-
sastra-vyakhya), No. 1171(2).
1. Luh-Yh-shi-Yh-min-liao-lun (the Vinaya-dvavimsati-
prasannartha-sastra). No. 1139.
8. Shi-pa-khun-lun (the Astadasakasa or the Asta-
dasa-sunyata-sastra), No. 1187.

Bodhidharma
It has been established that Bodhidharma 1 or Dharmabodhi
(Ta-ma-phu-thi) was a sramana in India and that he left India
for China in 526 A.D. with the special purpose of propagating
his system of philosophy but the details of his life are not
clearly known.
According to historians. Bodhidharma denied canon
reading, and his system therefore made the Buddhist
monasteries much less intellectual and much more meditative
than they were ever before.
When Bodhidharma came to China, he was received with
the honour due to him. and invited to Nanking by Liang
Wu-ti? an emperor of southern China. A discussion he is
believed to have had with the emperor is reproduced here,
for it makes his doctrine clear:
The emperor said. “Since my succession to the throne
I have been incessantly establishing temples and so on. How
much merit may I expect for that good conduct?" The reply
came. “none”. The emperor asked, “Why none?”
Bodhidharma answered. "AN these things are merely insigni­
ficant effects of an imperfect cause. It is the shadow follow­
ing the substance and is without real entity.’” The emperor
said, “Then, what is merit in the true sense of the word?”
1 Died ir» 528 or A.D.
 Bodhidharma replied, “ It consists in purity and enlighten­
ment, completeness and depth. Merit as such cannot be
accumulated by worldly means”. The emperor asked,
“ Which is the most important of the sacred doctrines?”
Bodhidharma replied, “Everything is non-substantiality, and
there is no such thing as ‘sacred’.” The emperor asked.
“Who is he that replies to me?” Bodhidharma replied. “ 1
myself do not know who he is! ”
As is clear from this dialogue, the essential core
of Bodhidharma’s doctrine is the philosophy of emptiness
(sunyata), and sunyata is beyond demonstration of any kind.
Therefore. Bodhidharma also replied in the negative form.
When we speak of the Buddhist influence on the life and
literature of the Chinese people, we have to keep this
mystic trend of Bodhidharma's philosophy in mind, for
there is no doubt that it has had a great deal to do with the
moulding of the spirit of Chinese Buddhism from which
Japanese Zen Buddhism (Contemplative Buddhism* has
been derived with modifications to render it suitable to the
genius of the Japanese people.
It is sometimes said that the Meditative school of Bodhi­
dharma is not a proper form of Buddhism at all, but a syncre­
tism of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism. Such a sup­
position is not correct, for. as Bodhidharma said, the spirit
of Buddhism is the spirit of the Meditative school.
Bodhidharma’s Meditative school naturally underwent
many changes as it grew in the Chinese environment. The
discipline of this school is akin to that of the Franciscan
Order, and its monastic life still exercises a powerful spiri­
tual influence among the Chinese, and especially among the
Japanese intelligentsia.
Bodhidharma himself recognized no sanctity in canon
reading, and laid stress on meditation, by which alone
enlightenment should be attained. Therefore, he translated
no more than one work, the exact date of which is not known.
That work is Ta-pan-nie-phan-cin-lun (the Mahaparinirvana-
sutra-sastra), No. 1206. Bodhidharma had five successors,
who led quiet lives like Bodhidharma, and were held in
high esteem by the emperors of the T ’ang dynasty.

Yuan Chwang
Yuan Chwang 1 was a Chinese Sramana of Lo-yan in
Ho-nan, who received his ordination at Chen-tu, in 622 A.D.
Under the patronage of the Eastern T sin dynasty (317—420
A.D.), Yuan Chwang became one of the most noteworthy
scholars in China, both as a writer of historical records (Ta-
tan-si-yu-ki) and as a translator of Sanskrit texts.
He started on his well-known journey to India in
629 A.D., and returned to the capital of China in 645 A.D.
during the Cen-kwan period. He started the work of
translating shortly afterwards and was employed in this
pursuit until he died in 664 A.D. in his sixty-fifth year.
While he was in India, he had lived in the monastery of
Nalanda for five years and devoted himself to the study of
Brahmanical literature and Buddhist canons. The know­
ledge and experience thus gained stood him in good stead
in the course of his work and he translated as many as 75
treatises into 1,335 fasciculi.
While he was in India, Yuan Chwang studied the Vij­
nanavada philosophy under the guidance of Silabhadra and
introduced the Vijnanavada philosophy of Dharmaraksita.
Thus, he became the founder of the Dharmalaksana school
which is based on the Vijnanavada texts and their commen­
taries.
Yuan Chwang brought with him from India 115 grains
of relics taken from the Buddha’s seat, a gold statue of the
Buddha with a transparent pedestal, and other images of
the Buddha made of silver and carved sandal-wood. He also
took with him an extensive collection of Sanskrit texts which
he translated in China.
The voluminous contribution made by him to Chinese
literature through translations from Sanskrit texts consists of

1. A. I).
the following according to Khai-Yuen*lu:

Ta-Shan-pu (Mahayana) ... 416 works

Shang-tsu-pu (Theravada) ... 14 »>
San-mi-ti-pu (Sammitiyas) ... 15 99

Mi-sha-se-pu (MahiSasakas) ... 22 t> *

Kin-she-pi-ye-pu (Kasyapiyas) ... 17 99

Fa-mi-pu (Dharmaguptas) ... 42 *9

Shwo-i-tsie-yu-pu (Sarvastivadas) ... 67 >♦

Ta-shung-pu (Mahasanghika) ... 15 99

Yin-lun (Hetusastra) ... 36

Shen-lun (6abdasastra) ... 13 9*

These works, numbering 657, were carried by twenty-two

horses. Soon after he came back to China, he went to
Ch’ang-an to translate them.
Yuan Chwang was also a distinguished litterateur in
addition to being a translator of unusual merit. When he
was considering the propriety of following Paramartha’s
method which sometimes omitted repetitions and made
certain additions. Yuan Chwang was deterred by a dream
and resolved to do a free translation in order to make the
original meaning clear. Along with his disciples, Yuan
Chwang followed a method of translation which was. a
departure from that followed by Paramartha. Yuan
Chwang’s method of translation subsequently came to be
called the ‘New Method’, while that of Paramartha was
known as the ‘Old Method’. Thus, the academic tendency
in the translation of Paramartha and his disciples was
replaced by the freedom of Yuan Chwang and his school.
Under the patronage of the emperor, the Buddhist acti­
vities of Yuan Chwang and his school flourished satisfactorily,
but the situation of Buddhism deteriorated considerably
during the time of the sixth emperor of the T ’ang dynasty.
Early in the eighth century, the Confucianists started a
movement to suppress Buddhism. In 714 A.D., Yen Ts’ung
pronounced the view that Buddhism was pernicious to the
country, and ascribed to Buddhism the early termination of
those dynasties that had been favourable to it. As a result
of an edict issued at this time, nearly 12,000 priests and nuns
were compelled to abandon their vocations and return to the
lay life. During the reign of Queen Wu, there was a ban on
the writing of sacred books and the building of temples.
The several hundred years during which the work of trans­
lation progressed in China can be divided historically into
three periods of which the following dates are symbolic:
1. 67 A.D.. when Buddhism entered China for the
first time.
2. 405 A.D., the age of Kumarajiva.
3. 646 A.D., the age of Yuan Chwang.
According to historians, Yuan Chwang was assisted in
the work of translation and revision by some Sanskrit
scholars. It is also said that, at the request of Yuan
Chwang, the emperor issued an order that five new monks
should be received into every monastery. The total number
of monasteries in the empire at that time was 3,716.
Of the works translated by Yuan Chwang and his dis­
ciples, the following are the most important:

1. Ta-pan-jo-po-lo-mi-to-cin (the Mahaprajnaparamita-

sutra), Nanjio’s Catalogue, No. 1.
2. Wei-shi-san-shi-lun (Vidyamatrasiddhi-tridasa-Sastra),
No. 1215.
3. Ta-shan-chan-yeh-lun (the Karmasiddhaprakarana-
sastra). No. 1221.
4. Wei-shi’rh-shi-lun (the Vidyamatrasiddhi-sastra),
No. 1240.
5. Pien-cun-pien-lun (the Madhyantavibhaga-£astra),
No. 1244.
6. Sho-ta-shan-1 un-pan (the Mahayanasamparigraha-
Sastramula), No. 1247.
7. O-phi-ta-mo-shun-can-li-lun (the Abhidharma-
nyayanusara-sastra), No. 1265.
 8. Yin-min-nin-can li-lun (the HetuvidyS-nyayapra-
vesa-sastra), No. 1216.
9. Yi n-m in-can-li-man-1un-pan (the Nyayadvaratarka-
Sastra), No. 1224.
10. Nan-twan-cin-kan-pan-jo-po-lo-mi-cin (the Vajrac
chedikaprajnaparamit3-sutra>. No. 13.

Bodhiruci
Bodhiruci1, the literal translation of whose name is Ciao-ai,
or ‘intelligence-loving’, was originally called Ta-mo-liu-ci, or
Dharmaruci. The latter name can be translated as Fa-hhi,
literally ‘law-loving’. The original name, Dharmaruci. was
changed to Bodhiruci by order of the empress Wu Tso-thien
(684 —705 A.D.>. Bodhiruci was a sramana of southern
India who came from a Brahmana family of Kasyapa Gotra.
During the days of the early T ’ang dynasty, many
renowned Buddhist monks came to China from Ceylon, India
and Japan. Bodhiruci was among those foreign Buddhists
who came to settle permanently in China.
According to a Chinese chronicle, Bodhiruci studied such
sciences as astronomy, medicine, geography and divinity,
etc., and became a Buddhist in his twelfth year.
Yasaghosa, a Mahayana thera, recognized his extraordi­
nary abilities and instructed him in Buddhist practices. With­
in a period of only three years, Bodhiruci became well-
acquainted with the Buddhist Tripitaka. When the emperor
heard of his activities, he invited him to the capital, where
Bodhiruci translated, in 693 A.D., the Fo-shwo-pao-yu-cin
(the Ratnamegha-sutra, Nanjio’s Catalogue, No. 151).
Just before his death, he abstained from all meals, hold­
ing and worshipping Sanskrit texts. When he was about to
die, he asked his followers to leave him, and passed away in
his solitary room. It is said that Bodhiruci was in his
156th year when he died in 727 A.D., having devoted his
entire life to the work of translating Sanskrit texts.
The regime of the T’ang rulers was favourable to Bud-
1. 571-727 A. D.
dhism and. such scholars as Yuan Chwang and Bodhiruci
freely translated many Buddhist texts brought from India.
In 693—713 A.D., Bodhiruci translated 53 works which
ran into 111 fasciculi. Of these, 12 were already missing in
730 A.D. In the history of Buddhism in China there were
two outstanding scholars who were both called Bodhiruci.
One of these worked under the patronage of the T ’ang
dynasty while the other was the founder of Ti-lun-tsung (the
Dasabhumika school) under the Wei dynasty. Although
the former Bodhiruci was not a founder of any school, he
was recognized as one of the greatest translators of Buddhist
texts.
His most important translations are:
1. Shih-sian-pan-jo-po-lo-mi-cin (the Prajnaparamita-
ardhasatika), Nanjio’s Catalogue, No. 18.
2. Ta-pao-tsi-cin (the Maharatnakuta-sutra), No. 23.
3. Wu-lian-sheu-ju-lai-hwui (the Amitayusa-vyuha),
No. 23(5).
4. Wan-shu-sh’-li-phu-man-hwui (the Samantamukha-
parivarta), No. 23(10).
5. Yiu-po-li-hwui (the Vinaya viniscaya-Upali-pari-
prccha), No. 23(24).
6. Mi-lo-phu-sa-su-wan-hwui (the Maitreya-pariprccha),
No. 23(42).
7. Ta-shan-cin-kan-ci-cu-phu-sa-siu-hhin-fan-cin (the
Mahayanavajra - cudamani-bodhisattva-carya-varga-
sutra), No. 86.
8. Fo-shwo-pao-yu-cin (the Ratnamegha-sutra), No.
151.
9. Ta-shan-cie-ye-shan-tin-cin (the sutra of the Maha­
yana), No. 241.
10. Wan-shu-sh’-Ii-pao-tsan-tho-lo-ni-cin (the Mafijusri-
ratnagarbhadharani-sutra), No. 448.

D. I n J apan

There are 13 principal sects of Buddhism in Japan and

the founder of each is regarded in that country as a great
Buddhist monk. An account is given below of the four
monks who contributed most to the establishment of Japanese
Buddhism.

Kukai
No other monk has been more popular than Kukai1
among the Japanese nor regarded with greater respect
throughout the ages. He is even more famous among a
group of people known as the Kobo Daishi. As a monk of
the Shingon sect he systematized the doctrine of his sect by
writing Ju-ju-shin-ron (a treatise on the ten stages of the
mind), Ken-mitsunikyo-ron (a treatise on the distinction
between Tantric Buddhism and other sects) and other works.
His contribution to Japanese culture in the field of the arts,
education, and social welfare was considerable. A poem,
popular even now, in which the principal doctrine of Bud­
dhism is taught in easy, beautiful Japanese and which con­
sists of the forty-seven letters of the Japanese alphabet,
called Iroha-uta, is also attributed to him. He died at
Kongobuji. the leading monastery of the Shingon sect, but
his followers think that he merely entered into Nyujo, i.e.,
eternal samadhi.

Shinran
Shiran2, the founder of the Jodo-shin sect, is the most
important personality by whose efforts Buddhism penetrated
deep into the hearts of the common people of Japan. Quite
unlike the other Buddhist monks, he lived an ordinary life
and never called himself a teacher. During the long 90
years of his life, he spent many years in the country among
farmers and peasants and found among them a number of
fcllow-devotees’. He wrote in easy Japanese many articles
which showed his profound devotion to Amitabha Buddha.
Of these, ‘Tannisho’ and ‘Kyo-gyo-shinsho’ are the most
important.
1. 774-83.r> A.D.
■2. 1175-1202 A.D.
 Dogen
Dogen1, the founder of the Soto Zen sect, is known not
only for his stern religious character but also as one of the
most prominent philosophers of Japan.
As a monk of Zen Buddhism he cared little for worldly
honour. He lived a life of strict discipline and devoted him­
self to discovering those individuals who were really worthy
of being the teachers of mankind through Zen meditation.
Residing at Eiheiji, the leading monastery of the Soto sect,
which he had founded, he laid down rules of conduct in Zen
monasteries which were accepted by all followers of Zen
Buddhism in Japan. He gave regular sermons at Eiheiji to
his disciples who collected and published them after his death
Of these sermons, the most important is called ‘Sho-bo-gen-zo
(the Essence of the True Doctrine), which is considered to be
one of the most eminent philosophical works in Japan, not
only by his followers but also by the philosophers of other
schools.

Nichiren
Nichiren2 was as eminent a Buddhist monk as he was a
great patriot. He lived during the period when Japan was
faced with the danger of invasion by the Mongolian Emperor
of China. He was convinced that the Buddhism taught in
the Saddharmapundarika-sutra was the only real one and
that it alone could save his nation from the danger of foreign
invasion. His life was a succession of persecutions by the
Government on account of his views. Nevertheless, the
burning patriotism he preached in his sermons as well as his
simple doctrine gained for him much sympathy and devotion
among the Japanese people. The sect founded by him was
called the Nichiren sect after him, and he was looked upon
by the followers of the Nichiren sect as a ‘Mahabodhisattva’
who saved the nation.

1. 1200-1253 A.D.
2. 1222-1282 A.D.
 SOME GREAT BUDDHISTS AFTER ASOKA

APPENDIX

L is t No. 1

Letters of Indian Pandits preserved in Tibetan

From To Name Time Tanjur

(Mdo-tygrel)

M i tree ta Kaniska Maharaja 1st century Gi 34, Ne 29

Kaniska. A.D.
Nftg&rjuna Ud&yibhadra Suhrllekha 2nd century Gi 32, Ne 27
(S&tavahana) A.D.
Candragornin V iraratna- Sisyalekha . 6th century Gi 33, Ne 28
kfrti A.D.
Jit&ri* C ittaratna- . 11th century Gi39, Ne 30
vifodhan- A.D.
krama.
Bodhibhadra Gurulekha . Do. Gi 39, Ne 31
(Somapuri),
Sajjana . Siiksmajnana Putralekha , Do. Gi 39, Ne 32
Dipankara Nayapala Vimalaratna- Do. Gi 103, Ne 33
SrijfULna lekha.
Jaganm itra- Jayac&ndra . Candraraja- 12th century Gi 103, Nr 34
nanda. lekha. A.I).

♦Jetari, oceording to the Tohoku University Catalogue (1934).

 L is t N o . 2

Some important works of Atisa translated into Tibetan with the

help of Tibetan translators

Name of Book Author Translator

Madhyamaka-ratnapradipa Bhavya Rgya Chon, Grus, Sen

Oe (Vikramasingh)

Madhyamakahrdaya-kfirikS Bhavya (Nag. Cho) Chhul,

Khrims rGyal
Va (Silajaya or Ja-
yaSila), Lhasa.
M adhyamaka hr<Iaya-karika Bhavya Do.
Vrtti.
Mad hyamaka rtha-sangraha Bhavya Do.
Madhyamakabhramaghata Aryadeva Do.
Paneaskan <
1hap raka rana Candrakirti . , Do.

Ratnakarandodghata Dipankara Srijnana R^rya Lochava and

Silajaya (Jayasila).
Siksasamu^eayabhisamaya Suvarnadvipiya Silajaya,
Dharmapaia
Bodhipathapradipa Dipankara Srijnana (Shu.) dUe-Vahi-Blo
^G ros.
Bodhipat hapradipa-pafij ikil Do. Silajaya (Jayasila).
Mahasfitrasamuccaya . Do. Jayanand and (Pa
Chhab.) Ni MaGrags,
 Chinese Travellers

About the seventh century A.D., when Europe was still

in the 'Dark Ages’, India and China lived an intense political,
intellectual, religious and artistic life. The common bond
created between them by Buddhism generated a great cur­
rent of humanism which spread from Ceylon lo Japan. After
a thousand years of eventful development. Buddhist mysti­
cism reached its apogee and Indian aeslhetics and philosophy
received fresh inspiration from it. Silabhadra of Nalanda
and his pupil. Yuan Chwang, the Master of the Law from
China, represent one aspect, while the outburst of naturalism
in art at Mamallapuram (Mahabalipuram) may be taken to
represent another. Both were borne along by a current of
creative forces of enduring value. China, realizing a new
unity under strong T ’ang rule, was hospitable to new ideas
and ready to allow its force to be softened by the gentle
influence of India. Yuan Chwang and I-tsing. only two
well-known pilgrims among many, have left records which
recall much of this vast movement in which even Japan had
a share. The temple of Horyuji. founded by Shotoku
Taisha at Nara in 607 A.D., still remains the time-honoured
witness of this transformation Fa-hien. two centuries
earlier, was its precursor, the earliest Chinese visitor to India
to leave a record of his travels.
Fa-hien
Fa-hien, the first of the three Chinese pilgrims, has
recorded his own travels. He practically walked all the
way from Central China across the Gobi desert, over the
 Hindu Kush and right across Northern India to the seaport
of Tamralipti in Bengal. There he embarked for Ceylon
and returned to China by sea after an adventurous voyage
marked by several hairbreadth escapes. He brought back
with him what he had gone to seek in India—sacred books
of Buddhism and images of Buddhist deities.
Fa-hien was distressed at the state of the Buddhist ‘dis­
ciplines’ in China, and made up his mind, together with
several friends, to go to India and try to obtain the ‘rules’.
Starting from Chang-an and travelling by stages they reached
Tun-huang at the end of the great wall; the governor of that
place gave them all that was required to enable them to cross
the Gobi desert. “ In this desert”, records Fa-hien, “there
are a great many evil spirits and also hot winds; those who
encounter them perish to a man. There are neither birds
above nor beasts below. Gazing on all sides as far as eye
can reach in order to mark the track, no guidance is to be
obtained save from the rotting bones of dead men, which
point the way."
He notices the prevalence of Indian culture in the states
he visited in Central Asia. In the country of Shan-Shan
(south of Lop-Nor) there were some four thousand priests
of the Lesser Vehicle and the common people practised the
religion of India with certain modifications. “From this
point travelling westwards, the nations that one passes
through are all similar in this respect . . . At the same time,
all those who have ‘left the family’ (priests and novices)
study Indian books and the Indian spoken language.” The
pilgrim spent two months and some days in Kura-shahr which
also had over 4,000 priests of the Lesser Vehicle.
His next important stage was Khotan, a prosperous and
happy State with tens of thousands of priests, mostly of the
Greater Vehicle. Fa-hien and his companions were lodged
in the large and comfortable Gomati Vihara by the ruler of
the country. Discipline in the vihara was perfect. “ At the
sound of a gong, three thousand priests assemble to eat.
When they enter the refectory, their demeanour is grave and
ceremonious; they sit down in regular order, they all keep
silence; they make no clatter with their bowls, etc.; and they
do not call out to the attendants to serve more food, but
only make signs with their hands.”
While some of his companions advanced to Kashgar,
Fa-hien and others stayed behind in Khotan for three months
to be able to witness the impressive procession of images
in which the priests of the Gomati took the first place among
the fourteen large monasteries (without counting the smaller
ones) and the king and queen and the Court ladies also took
part. The procession was like the Car Festival held in a
large Indian temple to this day, only more gorgeous. “The
cars are all different; each monastery has a day for its own
procession, beginning on the first of the fourth moon and
lasting until the fourteenth when the processions end and
the king and queen go back to the palace.”
Seven or eight //—a li is about a third of a mile—to the
west of the city of Khotan was the king’s New Monastery
which took eighty years to build, was about 250 feet high
and commanded the devotion and munificence of the kings
of six countries.
After the processions were over, Fa-hien moved on and
reached Kashgar after more than two months, in time to
witness the panca-parisad, ‘the great quinquennial assembly
held by the king of that country. Such an assembly was
held in India at a later date by the great Harsa Vardhana
of Kanauj in the presence of Yuan Chwang.
The Kashgar assembly must, however, have been much
smaller. The pious and credulous Fa-hien says of Kashgar,
“This country has a spittoon which belonged to the Buddha;
it is made of stone and is of the same colour as his alms bowl.
There is also a relic of the Buddha’s teeth, for which people
have raised a pagoda.” Many notes on relics and miracles
can be found throughout the narrative, but we must pass
them by, stopping to note only the most interesting or sig­
nificant among them.
A particularly dangerous section of his route along the
 Bolor-Tagh range and the first crossing of the Indus as des-
cribed by Fa-hien are worth reproducing. “Keeping to the
range, the party journeyed on in a south-westerly direction
for fifteen days over a difficult, precipitous, and dangerous
road, the side of the mountain being like a stone wall ten
thousand feet in height. On nearing the edge, the eye
becomes confused; and wishing to advance, the foot finds
no resting place. Below, there is a river named Indus. The
men of former times had cut away the rock to make a way
down, and had placed ladders on the side of the rock. There
are several hundred rock-steps in all; and when these and
the ladders have been negotiated, the river is crossed by a
suspension bridge of ropes. The two banks of the river
are somewhat less than eighty paces apart.”
After spending the next summer in retreat in Udyana,
then a flourishing centre of Buddhism, Fa-hien marched
South to Gandhara and Taksasila, where the Master cut off
his head for a fellow creature, and records the Buddha’s pro­
phecy that Kaniska would raise a pagoda in Peshawar.
This pagoda was seen and described at length by Yuan
Chwang, and its foundations are believed to have been dis­
covered by archaeologists. Fa-hien also writes: “Of all
the pagodas and temples seen by the pilgrims, not one could
compare with this in grandeur and dignity, and tradition says
that of the various pagodas in the inhabited world this one
takes the highest rank.”
From Peshawar Fa-hien proceeded alone to Nagarahara
(Hadda), his companions having left him. That city had a
shrine containing the Buddha’s skull bone. It was sealed
with eight seals every night for safety, each in the custody
of one of the leading men in the city. “ Every morning the
king makes offerings and worships the relic.” Half a yojana
to the south of the city the pilgrim notes the cave inside
which the Buddha left his shadow. “The kings of the
various countries round about”, he affirms, “have sent skilful
artists to sketch it, but they have not been able to do so.”
Fa-hien also notes the other sacred spots and relics in the
 neighbourhood.
In Afghanistan, which he entered after crossing the Safed
Koh, there were three thousand priests belonging to both
the Greater and Lesser Vehicles; there were the same number
at Bannu, but all belonging to the Lesser Vehicle. Cross­
ing the Panjab, the pilgrim reached the Mathura country
after passing many monasteries where there were nearly ten
thousand priests. Buddhism was very popular in the
Mathura region and its priests were honoured by the people
and the officials of the Court who waited personally upon
them at table. “At the end of the meal they spread carpets
on the ground, and sit down facing the president not ven-
turning to sit on couches in the presence of priests”—an
arrangement handed down from the days of the Buddha.
Then Fa-hien reached the Middle Kingdom, the heart of
the Gupta Empire. His oft-quoted description of the coun­
try is brief but to the point: “It has a temperate climate,
without frost or snow; and the people are prosperous and
happy, without registration or official restrictions. Only
those who till the King’s land have to pay so much on the
profit they make. Those who want to go away may go;
those who want to stop may stop. The King in his adminis­
tration has no corporal punishments; criminals are merely
fined according to the gravity of their offences. Even for
a second attempt at rebellion the punishment is only the loss
of the right hand. The men of the King’s body-guard have
all fixed salaries.” In the rest of what he says, however,
Fa-hien seems to apply to the whole country what he observed
in the viharas; for he affirms: “Throughout the country
no one kills any living thing, nor drinks wine, nor eats onions
or garlic.” Again, “In this country they do not keep pigs
or fowls, there are no dealings in cattle, no butchers’ shops
or distilleries in their market-place.” He takes note parti­
cularly of the candalas (untouchables) who lived apart, had
to announce their presence on the roads in the city or near
the market by beating a piece of wood, and were the only
class that went hunting and dealt in flesh. Cowries were
used as a medium of exchange, and charitable endowments
in favour of Buddhist priests were numerous, time-honoured
and well respected. “Rooms with beds and mattresses,
food and clothes are provided for resident and travelling
priests without fail, and this is the same in all places.”
Fa-hien then visited in succession SarikaSya (Kapitha);
Kanyakubja (Kanauj)—‘the city of hump-back maidens’;
Sha-ki, Saketa or Ayodhya; Sravasti with its shrine of the
Garden of Gold, a place where many miracles were performed
and are duly noticed by the pilgrim; Kapilavastu, the city
of £uddhodana, the Buddha’s father—‘then just like a wilder­
ness, except for priests and some tens of families’; Vaisali
(Besarh); and the country of Magadha and the city of Patali­
putra where he saw the marvellous palace of A&oka ‘all built
by spirits’. He has high praise for Magadha. “Of all the
countries of central India, this has the largest cities and
towns. Its people are rich and thriving and emulate one
another in practising charity of heart and duty to one’s
neighbour. Regularly every year, on the eighth day of the
second moon, they have a procession of images.” He men­
tions the free hospitals in the cities with much admiration.
From there he went to Nalanda (Bargaon), Rajagrha and
Gaya—‘a complete waste within its walls’, but surrounded
by many hallowed spots, all duly noted by Fa-hien; Banaras,
including the Deer Forest at Sarnath, where the Buddha
preached his first sermon, and lastly Kausambi with its gar­
den of Ghociravana, the Ghositarama of recent discovery.
At this point he records what he heard of the Paravata
monastery in the Deccan; the account is unreliable and not
easily matched by known facts.
From Banaras Fa-hien returned to Pataliputra. What
he records of his efforts to gain written texts of Buddhism
is interesting. Usually, they were transmitted orally from
generation to generation, and only at the shrine of the
Garden of Gold in Sravasti in a monastery of the Greater
Vehicle he ‘obtained a copy according to the text accepted
at the First Great Assembly and practised by priests gene-
rally while the Buddha was still alive’—a declaration that
modern scholars will not be ready to accept. Fa-hien spent
three years ‘learning to write and speak Sanskrit (or Pali)
and copying out the Disciplines’. He then moved on to
Tamluk by way of Campa and stayed two years there ‘copy­
ing out sutras and drawing pictures of images’ before
embarking for Ceylon on his way back to China.
Sailing in a big merchant vessel with the first favourable
monsoon wind, Fa-hien reached Ceylon in fourteen days
and spent two years there collecting and copying Sanskrit
texts unknown in China. Early in his stay on the island,
Fa-hien felt homesick. “He had now been away from his
own land of Han for many years . . . moreover, those who
had travelled with him had left him—some remaining behind
in these countries, others being dead. Now, beholding
only his own shadow, he was constantly sad at heart; and
when suddenly, by the side of this jade image (of the Buddha
of Abhayagiri vihara of Anuradhapura), he saw a merchant
make offering of a white silk fan from China, his feelings
overcame him and his eyes filled with tears.” Fa-hien des­
cribes the viharas, the Tooth festival, and Mihintale, and gives
an attractive account of Simhalese Buddhism as a whole.
From Ceylon Fa-hien sailed in another big merchant
vessel carrying two hundred souls or more; there was a
smaller vessel also in tow. After sailing for two days the
ship encountered a violent storm which lasted for thirteen
days; Fa-hien spent his time in prayer fixing his thoughts
upon Kuan Yin, the Hearer of Prayers, and put his life into
the hands of the Catholic Church in China. He was also
afraid that the merchants might throw his books and images
overboard. But nothing happened; a leak in the vessel was
discovered near an island and stopped, and Java was
reached after another storm-tossed voyage of over ninety
days. Fa-hien stayed in Java for five months or so; there
he found Brahmanism flourishing ‘while the Faith of the
Buddha was in a very unsatisfactory condition’. Another
big merchant vessel and an equally troublesome and pro­
traded voyage brought him to the prefecture of Ch’ing-chou
in China where he spent a winter and a summer before going
south to the capital, Nanking, where he handed over to the
ecclesiastics the sutras and the Disciplines he had collected.
The conclusion of his account is very touching; he says:
“Fa-hien spent six years in travelling from Ch’ang-an to
central India; he stayed there for six years, and it took him
three more to reach Ch’ing-chou. The countries he passed
through amounted to rather fewer than thirty. From the
sandy desert westwards all the way to India the dignified
deportment of the priesthood and the good influence of the
Faith were beyond all expression in detail. As, however,
the ecclesiastics at home had had no means of hearing about
these things, Fa-hien had given no thought to his own un­
important life, but came home across the seas, encountering
still more difficulties and dangers. Happily, he was accorded
protection by the divine majesty of the Precious Trinity, and
was thus preserved in the hour of danger. Therefore, he
wrote down on bamboo tablets and silk an account of what
he had been through, desiring that the gentle reader should
share this information.”

Yuan Chwang
Born at Lo-yang in 602, Yuan Chwang amazed his father
even at the age of eight by his observance of the Confucian
rites, and it looked as if, like many of his ancestors, he would
be a famous literary man of the traditional type.- But the
example of his elder brother who had just become a Buddhist
monk influenced him, and he also took his vows in the
monastery of Lo-yang when he was just thirteen. He began
the study of Indian philosophy and soon mastered its intri­
cacies. About 617 A.D., the end of Sui rule plunged the
country into disorder from which it did not recover till
Emperor T ’ang Tai-tsung established his firm rule after a
series of brilliant campaigns begun in 618 A.D., the year in
which Yuan Chwang sought refuge from anarchy in the
mountains of Spu-ch’uan. In spite of the trouble, however,
 be soon mastered the Law of Buddhism and held many
popular discourses. He thus rapidly qualified for the first
place in philosophical debates wherever Sanskrit learning
prevailed—from the Deccan to Japan, from Turfan to
Sumatra. The capital of the new dynasty, Ch’ang-an (now
Si-am-fu), one of the chief centres of Buddhism in the Far
East, became the centre of his activity from 662 A.D. But
soon he was struck by the numerous differences among the
schools and uncertainties in doctrine, and he made a vow
to travel to the countries of the West and learn the truth
from the wise men there on the points which were troubling
his mind.
But when he applied for permission to leave China, the
Emperor refused it. However, putting his trust in the invisible
protection of the saints of Buddhism, the intrepid monk per­
sisted in his plan. He was twenty-six when he set forth on
his journey, and handsome and tall, like many Chinese of
the North. People discouraged him on sundry occasions,
but were impressed by his calm courage and helped
him to the best of their ability. He travelled secretly, hiding
by day and travelling by night. Mirages and apparitions
thwarted him often; near one frontier fortress he was shot
at and narrowly escaped death from an arrow. In spite of
everything, he crossed the desert all alone with nothing to
guide him except his own shadow and reached Ha-mi, where
he received an invitation from the king of Turfan (then
known as Kao-ch’ang), a pious Buddhist.
Turfan in the central part of the Gobi, to all intents and
purposes dead to-day, then throbbed with the lively econo­
mic, political and cultural life of a Buddhist population speak­
ing a dialect of Tocharian. Its ruler, Ch’u-Wen-tai (620—
40 A.D.), was of Chinese extraction; he was a vassal of the
Turkish Khan and had relations with T ’ai-tsung. His invita­
tion to Yuan Chwang was a command and the pilgrim was
almost carried off by force to Turfan. A pious Buddhist, bat
somewhat rough and ready, Ch’u-Wen-tai, although most
hospitable and respectful to Yuan Chwang, had planned to
 detain him personally in his Court as its ecclesiastical head.
“I insist on keeping you”, he said, “in order to offer you my
homage, and it would be easier to shift the mountain of
Pamir than to shake my determination.” “It is for the sub­
lime Law that I have come,” replied Yuan Chwang heroi­
cally, “the king will only be able to keep my bones; he has no
power over my spirit nor my will.” He followed this up
by refusing to touch food for three days; the king became
alarmed and yielded. The Master of the Law agreed to stay
a month longer to preach at the Court, and at the end of the
month the king let him go well provided with introductions
to all the kings on his route, including the Turkish Khan
whose writ ran to the very gates of India. Yuan Chwang
was no longer an unknown refugee fleeing in secret; but an
accredited pilgrim with an official standing. He was sump­
tuously provided for for the rest of the journey to India.
From Turfan he proceeded to Kara-shahr, also a Tocha-
rish-speaking city, which contained some ten monasteries and
two thousand monks of the Hinayana sect. The people here
were friendly to Yuan Chwang, but not to his Turfan escort;
so he spent only one night there and moved on to Kucha
(Skt. Kuchi), perhaps the most important town in Central
Asia at the time and an Indian outpost, but subject to
Iranian influences also. Its material prosperity and the
brilliance of its civilization impressed Yuan Chwang, and
archaeological explorations in the twentieth century have
enabled scholars to reconstruct many a probable scene in
which the Master of the Law may have taken part. But
Kucha was only an oasis in the Gobi, surrounded and coveted
by the Turko-Mongols, and its ruling classes were forced to
remain warriors. The throne of Kucha was still occupied by
a Tocharian ruler, Suvarna-deva, the son and successor of
Suvarna-puspa. In his kingdom there were 5,000 monks to
whom he gave active protection. He maintained diploma­
tic relations with the T ’ang emperor. At Kucha Yuan
Chwang engaged in religious disputations with Hinayana
monks who did not take kindly to the Yoga-sastra which
Yuan Chwang preferred. But the difference did not take
an unfriendly turn, and amiable relations were maintained
with the old sage Moksagupta of Kucha during two
more months that the Master of the Law was forced to spend
there on account of the weather. When he left, the king
gave him servants, camels, horses, a whole caravan, and
accompanied him to the outskirts of the city followed by the
monks and lay devotees of the town.
Two days after he had left Kucha, Yuan Chwang encoun­
tered robber bands on the road; and then came the glaciers
on the slopes of the T ’ien-Shan. These he has described pic­
turesquely, anticipating some of the great explorers of recent
times. He worked his way to the region of Issiq-Kul (warm
lake) where the great Khan of the Western Turks had
encamped. This was early in 630 A.D. The Khan was not
devoid of religious culture and had leanings towards Bud­
dhism which his predecessors had been taught fifty years
before by a monk from Gandhara, Jinagupta by name. The
Khan had established his sway as far as Gandhara. He
treated Yuan Chwang with great deference, invited him to
dinner with the Chinese envoys and ambassadors from the
king of Turfan and provided him with ‘pure food’—rice
cakes, cream, milk, crystallized sugar, honey and raisins.
At the end of the dinner, the master expounded the principles
of his faith, and the Khan joyously said that he accepted the
teaching with the faith. After making an unsuccessful effort
to dissuade the master from continuing his journey, he gave
him his official protection for the journey to India which
enabled him easily to cross the passes of the Pamirs and
Bactria.
Samarquand, Marakanda of old, was already an ancient
city in the seventh century. It was the capital of Sogdiana
and Yuan Chwang’s next important halt. It was the termi­
nus of the caravan routes between India and China, and was
rich in rare and precious merchandise. It wavered between
Zoroastrianism and Buddhism and the master’s visit did much
to raise the status of Buddhism in this Turko-Iranian king-
 dom; he held an assembly at which he ordained a number of
monks and restored the old desecrated monasteries for wor­
ship. From Samarquand, the pilgrim marched South over
difficult mountain routes till he reached the ‘Gates of Iron’,
the southern frontier of the Western Turkish Empire, at the
end of the defile through which even now passes the caravan
track between Samarquand and the Oxus.
South of the Gates of Iron, Yuan Chwang crossed the
Oxus and entered Bactria, then under the rule of Tardu Shad,
a son of the great Khan of the Turks, and brother-in-law of
the king of Turfan, who was also a pious Buddhist.
Bactria probably received its Buddhism very early from the
missions of A£oka. At time of the master’s arrival,
there occurred the death of the Turfan princess. Tardu
Shad took a new queen almost immediately, but she loved
her stepson more than her husband; she poisoned the king
and put her lover on the throne. The latter was friendly to
Yuan Chwang and persuaded him to visit Balkh, the capital
city, before going South. Balkh and Bactria still had many
monasteries, in spite of the ruin wrought by the Huns in the
fifth and sixth centuries, and though they were all Hinayanist,
the master was on friendly terms with them and he derived
much good, he says, from his conversations with one of
their doctors, Prajnakara. Then the pilgrim made the most
difficult crossing of the Hindu Kush and reached Bamiyan,
a station of primary importance on the road from Central
Asia to India. Modern archaeologists were struck by the
accuracy of his description of the site. “On the north”, he
says, “it leans against the steep rock. This country has
winter corn, but few flowers and fruits. It is suitable for
cattle breeding and abounds in sheep and horses. The
climate is very cold. Manners are rough. Clothing is of
fur and coarse woollen materials, which are also products
of the country.” There were ten Buddhist monasteries with
several thousand monks in them. Yuan Chwang mentions
the celebrated grottos and the two colossal statues of the
Buddha, about 170 and 115 feet high, but somehow not the
frescoes which have evoked great interest in our times. The
gilt surface of one of the large Buddhas led him to think
that it was a statue of bronze.
He left Bamiyan for Kapisa by the difficult pass of Shibar,
9,000 feet high, where he was overtaken by a storm and lost
his way which he regained with the aid of local hunters.
Kapi£a (now the village of Begram) to the north of Kabul
commanded the principal passes of the Hindu Kush, and con­
sequently the great trade routes between India and Bactria; it
abounded in every kind of merchandise. The king was a
devout Buddhist of the Mahayana persuasion. To please
Prajnakara, his travelling companion from Balkh, the master
lived in a Hinayana monastery, but at the king’s request, took
part in an assembly of different sects, which lasted five days.
After spending the summer of 630 A.D. there, he took the road
to the east again and reached Jalalabad, ancient Nagarahara,
through Lampaka. Here he was on Indian soil proper and
he duly noted the contrast between the mountain country he
had left behind with its sturdy people, and the hot plains of
thinner, easy-going men. He says: “At Lampaka the ground
is suitable for the cultivation of rice, and produces a large
quantity of sugar-cane . - . The climate is fairly mild.
There is some frost but never snow . .. The inhabitants live
in ease and happiness, and love song. They are, moreover,
effeminate, pusillanimous and given to fraud . . . They are
short in stature and their movements are brisk and impetu­
ous. The majority are clothed in white cotton, and like to
adorn their costume with brilliantly coloured ornaments.”
This land of Greco-Buddhism, rich in its artistic tradition,
had suffered terribly at the hands of the Huns and now had
only ruined monasteries and works of art. The Arab inva­
sion, twenty years later, dealt the final death-blow. From
here the master made a hazardous diversion on a road infest­
ed with brigands to visit a cave in which the Buddha after
quelling the Naga Gopala had left his shadow. He gives
a thrilling account of his encounter with robbers, and of the
miracle vouchsafed to him in the cave, a remarkable instance
 of courage, persistence and faith.
From Lampaka the pilgrim entered Gandhara by the
Khyber Pass. This was a second holy land of Buddhism
where art had flourished for nearly six centuries without a
break under strong Greco-Roman influence. Peshawar,
the capital of Kaniska, had given birth to Asanga and
Vasubandhu, the two chief authors of mystical idealism so
dear to Yuan Chwang. But when he came to Peshawar, it
had suffered from the Huns like other places. He notes
sadly: “The royal race is wiped out and the country has
been annexed to the kingdom of Kapisa. Towns and vil­
lages are almost empty and abandoned, and only a few in­
habitants are seen in the country. One corner of the royal
town (Peshawar) contains about a thousand families . . .
There are a million Buddhist monasteries which are in ruins
and deserted. They are overgrown with weeds and they
make a mournful solitude. The majority of the stupas are
also in ruins.” Still the pilgrim made it a point to visit
most of the hallowed spots, till he left the main road to India
for a northerly excursion into the mountain country of
Udyana or Uddiyana which had suffered even more than
Gandhara from Hun inroads; once it had 1,400 viharas and
18,000 monks; the country had not yet ceased to be Bud­
dhist and the people were divided between the two vehicles,
though Mahayana Buddhism was tending towards Tantrism.
Leaving Uddiyana and Gandhara, the master crossed the
Indus at Udabhanda or Udakakhanda (north of Attock) and
visited Taksasila where too there were many monasteries
ruined by the Huns. From there he went for a while to
Kashmir where Buddhism still prevailed. There were still
a hundred monasteries with 5,000 monks, and the country
cherished memories of Asoka and Kaniska. The king of
Kashmir received the pilgrim with great honour in his
capital, Pravarapura (Srinagar). Yuan Chwang found there
a venerable Mahayanist doctor aged seventy, from whom he
was able to receive in all its purity the tradition of the idealist
school of Buddhist philosophy. He spent two years in
Kashmir, from May 631 to April 633 A.D., studying philo­
sophy and having Buddhist sutras and Sastras copied to take
home with him to China.
Coming down from Kashmir, one of his first halting
places was Sakala (Sialkot), the seat of the Greek king
Menander of old, and of the Hun tyrant Mahirakula (or
Mihirakula) of more recent times, but also the shelter, two
centuries before the master’s visit, of the illustrious philo­
sopher, Vasubandhu. On his way thence to Cinabhukti on
the left bank of the Beas, the master narrowly escaped a
band of brigands and then met an old brahmana who was
learned in Buddhist doctrine (Madhyamika) with whom he
spent a month in a village. He lived over a year in Cina­
bhukti and went in 634 A.D. to Jalandhara during the rains.
He next went to Mathura, famous in Hindu tradition and
Buddhist art, and it may be presumed that he saw and
admired the celebrated standing Buddha, a masterpiece of
Gupta art, now in the National Museum, New Delhi. From
Mathura he ascended the Yamuna up to Sthanesvara in Kuru-
ksetra; modern scholars are agreed that his remarks about
the latter show that he recalled the Mahabharata war and
the essence of the Bhagavadgita. Travelling East, he reached
the upper Ganges and observed the growing triumph of
Hinduism and the relative decline of his own creed. He
visited Kapitha (old Sankasya) and like Fa-hien witnessed
the miracles associated with the place. Though he spent
some months in Kanyakubja, which Harsa had made the
political capital of the North, he did not meet the king who
was away in the East and afterwards became his great friend
and patron. His account of Harsa is marked by deep
admiration: “His rule”, he says, “was just and humane.
He forgot to eat and drink in the accomplishment of good
works.” On the whole, however, we think that Yuan
Chwang exaggerates the monarch’s Buddhist leanings just as
his Court poet Bana lays undue stress on the £aivism of the
king, who seems really, like many other Indian rulers, to
have held the scales even between the different creeds which
 existed in his kingdom. After visiting Ayodhya and on his
way to Prayag along the Ganges, the master fell into the
hands of water thugs, devotees of Durga, who wanted to
sacrifice him to their goddess; courage, prayer, and a mira­
culous and timely storm saved the pilgrim’s journey from
an untimely end. At Prayag he noted again with regret that
Buddhists were in the minority, and passed' on to Kausambl
where he was shown mementos of the Buddha’s visit, of
Vasubandhu’s writing and of Asanga’s life, though as every­
where else Brahmanism was in the ascendant.
Here the master made up his mind to visit the birth­
place of the Buddha without further delay and turned due
North. First he came to Sravasti, the hamlet of Sahet-
Mahet, on the right bank of the Rapti, practically deserted
at the time but full of sacred spots and memories; then
Kapilavastu, the Buddha's native town with the garden of
Lumbini where he was born; then Ramagrama and lastly
Kusinagara (Kasia. on the right bank of the middle Gandak)
where he attained nirvana. All these places have been
satisfactorily identified by modern archaeology, and this
imparts a vivid significance to the pilgrim's narrative of
what he saw and heard. From here. Yuan Chwang went
along a forest route straight to Banaras, a place sacred alike
to Hindus and Buddhists.
Yuan Chwang’s account of Banaras is curiously modern.
“The greater part worship £iva. Some cut off their hair,
others pile it on the top of their heads. Some there are (the
Jainas)who are naked, others rub their bodies with ash,
or practise cruel mortifications in order to escape sam­
sara . . .” He mentions a colossal statue of £iva ‘full of
grandeur and majesty’. He must also have seen at Sarnath
the seated Buddha turning the Wheel of Law, ‘the purest
incarnation of the Gupta ideal’ in art. The city was full
of tender and marvellous legends. From Banaras the pil­
grim went further north to Vaisali (Besarh), the city of the
famous courtesan Amrapali who offered to the Sangha the
park of mango trees; at Vaisali also the second Buddhist
Council had been held a hundred years after the Buddha’s
passing.
Magadha in southern Bihar was the true sacred land of
Buddhism, the most important region for the pilgrim. Its
capital, Pataliputra. the centre of two great empires in the
past, was in decay, and the pilgrim saw the ruins of many
palaces and viharas of which scarcely two or three still
stood. He describes with deep emotion his journey from
Pataliputra to Bodh Gaya, the place where the Buddha
attained knowledge and where almost every square foot of
ground had witnessed sacred scenes. Yuan Chwang was
not only a keen philosopher learned in the doctrine, but a
man of tender piety which suffuses the narrative of his visits
to these sacred spots. To the north-east of Bodh Gaya lay
Nalanda, the great international university of the time.
Yuan Chwang’s detailed description of this enormous foun­
dation. richly endowed by the munificence of generations of
kings and nobles, is well borne out by modern excavations.
There were ten huge viharas with spaces between divided
into eight courtyards, all within a brick wall enclosure.
There were ten thousand monks, all followers of the Maha­
yana. They eagerly studied, besides Buddhist works, the
Vedas, medicine, arithmetic, the occult sciences and other
popular subjects. The head of the establishment was the
old and venerable Silabhadra who came in the direct line
of Asanga and Vasubandhu’s pupils and summed up in
himself the final result of seven centuries of Indian thought.
Some time earlier he had had a dream which warned him
of the coming of the Chinese Master of the Law; so he
received him with honour, and the pilgrim spent fifteen
months there learning the Yogacara doctrine which he
afterwards cast in the form of a book known as the Siddhi;
he also studied Brahmana philosophy and perfected his
knowledge of Sanskrit. He interrupted his studies for a
while only to visit Rajagrha of ancient fame where the first
Buddhist Council had met soon after the death of the Blessed
One. After leaving Nalanda, Yuan Chwang spent the year
638 A.D. in Bengal and Campa, and finally reached Tamra-
lipti, intending to embark for Ceylon to study the Hinayana
there.
Tamralipti was a great emporium in those days and the
pilgrim must have met many sailors and traders from the
eastern lands; he gives a fairly accurate and valuable,
though brief, account of the Hindu kingdoms of contem­
porary Indo-China. Some monks from the South told
Yuan Chwang that Ceylon was within easy reach of South
India, and there was no need to risk a long sea voyage. He
accepted the advice and worked his way south to Kafici-
puram by way of Orissa, Mahakosala, the land of Nagarjuna
and Arya Deva, as also Kipling’s Mowgli, Andhra and
the Telugu-Goda countries. His observations on the people
and politics are very valuable. He probably spent the
rainy season of 639 A.D. at Amaravati and reached Kaiici
in 640 A.D. There he learned that Ceylon was in turmoil; a
civil war was raging and he had to give up his idea of a
visit to the island. He worked his way back to the North
by western Deccan, no doubt meeting PulakeSin II, the
great Badami Calukya ruler at Nasik (641 A.D.), and visiting
Bharukaccha (Bharoch) and Valabhi. Here he learnt much
about Iran on the eve of the onslaught of Islam and his pic­
ture of the Sassanid empire just before its fall is of great
value to history.
After visiting Sindh and Multan in the West, Yuan
Chwang turned towards the East for a second stay at
Nalanda and its neighbourhood where great Mahayana
scholars like Jayasena lived; when his visits to the holy
places were over, the master gave his time up fully to his
studies; he was interested in many subjects and had vast,
encyclopaedic learning. He often took part in philosophi­
cal debates and delighted in exposing the flaws in other
creeds. But his thoughts were ever directed to his return
to China to give her the benefit of his new learning, and he
turned down the request of the monks of Nalanda that he
should not leave them. Indian kings heard of the Chinese
master's great ability, and Bhiskaravarman, the king of
Assam (Kamrup), invited him to his Court. So he went
there, and his notes on Assam are remarkably accurate.
Very soon Har$a Vardhana sent word to Assam, whose king
was his friend and vassal, inviting Yuan Chwang to his own
camp on the Ganges; they went and were warmly received
by Har§a who had been impatient at the delay in their
arrival. In 643 A.D. Yuan Chwang attended the two cele­
brated assemblies convened by Harsa at Kanauj and Prayag,
of which we have detailed descriptions from Yuan Chwang
and his biographers, though these are obviously one-sided.
Har$a, according to these accounts, had difficulty in protecting
the Mahayanist doctor from the debating zeal of the followers
of other creeds, particularly the brahmanas; drastic rules
calculated to stifle free speech caused resentment and even
the lives of the king and the pilgrim were endangered.
Such is the account that we have no means of verifying.
The assembly at Prayag was the usual quinquennial meeting
at which the king gave away his accumulated treasure. This
was the last function for which the Master of the Law put
off his return to China. Harsa also failed to dissuade him
from returning to his native land, and very unwillingly bade
him farewell. After spending two months of the rainy sea­
son in the region to the north of Kanauj, Yuan Chwang
crossed the Panjab by way of Jalandhar and Tak§a4ila,
taking in the opposite direction the route he had taken ten
years before. Crossing the Indus, early in 644 A.D., he
was met at Udabhamja (Und) by the kings of KapiSa, and
Kashmir, the former helping -him to get from U<J<Jiyan& fresh
copies of some of the books which had been lost in crossing
the Indus. He lodged in a monastery in Nagarahara for
some time.
Then he crossed the Hindu Kush with great difficulty
in July 644 A.D., despite the aid of the king of Kapisa, and
farther on a Turkish prince gave him an escort for the cross­
ing of the Pamirs. His narrative here contains many marvel­
lous tales and dramatic adventures. He duly noted the
Indian origin of the civilization of the Central Asian states;
he passed through Kashgar, Yarkand and Khotan where he
spent seven to eight months from September 644 A.D.;
during this period he replaced the manuscripts lost in transit
and awaited the permission of the imperial government to
return to the country which he had left ten years earlier
without a proper permit. His notes on the places he visited
show clearly the geographical changes that had occurred
since the days of Fa-hien. After resting some time at Tun-
huang, he approached Ch’ang-an in the Spring of 645 A.D.
and was received with great honour by the officials and
monks of the capital. He presented his respects to the
Emperor T ’ai-tsung at Lo-Yang some days later. Not only
was his secret exit from China forgiven, but he soon became
the hero of the hour and part of the glory of the T ’angs, the
Emperor himself congratulating him on having risked His
life for the salvation and happiness of all men. He refused
to accept the post of Minister offered him by the Emperor,
and spent the rest of his life in a monastery, specially built
in the capital to lodge him and his band of translators who
rendered into Chinese the six hundred Sanskrit works
brought from India. The Emperor T’ai-tsung died in July
649 A.D.; his successor was quite friendly, but Yuan
Chwang’s visits to the palace became less frequent and he
devoted himself more and more to translation and active
preaching. He knew his end was approaching, and died in
peace and content in 664 A.D. with the consciousness of
having led a good and purposeful life.

I-tsing
I-tsing was about ten years of age when Yuan Chwang
returned to China, but he had prepared himself for the life
of a Buddhist monk. He was admitted to the Order when
he was fourteen. Though he formed the idea of travelling
to India in 652 A.D., he did not carry it out till his thirty-
seventh year (671 A.D.). He was away for 25 years (671—
695 A.D.) and travelled through more than thirty countries.
After his return to China in 695 A.D., he translated 56 works
out of about 400 he had brought back with him, between
the years 700 and 712 A.D. He died in 713 A.D. in his
seventy-ninth year.
He took the sea route to India both ways. His itineraries
lack the variety and scientific interest of those of Yuang
Chwang. but they are full of human interest. On his out­
ward voyage (671 A.D.) he spent eight months in Sumatra, six
at £ri-vijaya, a rising maritime state (now Palembang), and
two in Malaya in the neighbourhood. He landed at Tamra-
lipti in 673 A.D., and thence went to Magadha, the holy land
par excellence and worshipped at Bodh Gaya and other sacred
spots. He spent ten years at Nalanda, hearing the teaching
of the Doctors of the Law and collecting holy books. He had
many companions with him of whom he was to write an
account later, and from them he took leave, never to see
them again, in 685 A.D. when he left India,/ again by way of
Tamralipti. He spent four years in Sri-vijaya with its
Sanskrit background in order to translate the sacred works;
in 689 A.D. he went to China to fetch collaborators
/ _ for his
work and after another five years at Sri-vijaya he finally
returned to China in 695 A.D. Like Yuan Chwang before
him he found the Court interested in his voyages and was
given an official reception.
One of I-tsing’s works, A Record of the Buddhist
Religion as practised in India and the Malay Archipelago,
has been translated into English by the Japanese
scholar, J. Takakusu. More interesting in some ways are his
Memoirs on the Eminent M onks who went in Search of
the Law in the Western Countries', of this work a French
version by Chavannes is available. It gives us a fair idea
of the earnestness and devotion of the pilgrims whose num­
bers were larger than we are apt to imagine and of the
spirit with which they braved the dangers of their enter­
prise. It is, in fact, a melancholy succession of tales, full
of pathetic incidents both on land and sea. I-tsing
remarks wistfully: “However triumphal, the path was strewn
 with difficulties; the Holy Places were for away and vast.
Of dozens who brought forth leaves and flowers, and of
several who made an attempt, there was scarcely one who
bore any fruit or produced any real results, and few who
completed their task. The reason for this was the immensity
of the stony deserts of the Land of the Elephant (India), the
great rivers and the brilliance of the sun' which pours forth its
burning heat, or else the towering waves heaved up by the
giant fish, the abysses, and the waters that rise and swell as
high as the heavens. When marching solitary, beyond the
Iron Gates between Samarquand and Bactria. one wandered
amongst the ten thousand mountains, and fell into the bot­
tom of precipices; when sailing alone beyond the Columns
of Copper (South of Tongking), one crossed the thousand
deltas and lost one’s life . . . That is how it is that those
who set out were over fifty in number, while those who
survived were only a handful of men.” Several Korean monks
had gone to India, the majority across Central Asia, some by
the sea route; of them I-tsing says: “They died in India,
and never saw their country again.” Indeed the Central
Asian route was becoming more and more difficult after the
weakening of the T’ang empire and the revolt of Tibet, not
to speak of the Islamic Arabs who soon appeared on the
scene.
On the maritime route the Chinese pilgrims saw India
coming out to meet them. The impress of Indian civiliza­
tion on Indo-China and Indonesia could not escape their
notice, and I-tsing recommends that one should stay in
Srivijaya and perfect his knowledge of Sanskrit before
going on to India. During this period there was a perpe­
tual exchange of ideas, books and art products between
India and Ceylon and Java. Cambodia, Campa and the
ports of the Canton region of China.
Thus, in this bright period of Asian history, the Chinese
pilgrims of the great T’ang dynasty linked the Far East to
India more closely by their travels and their translations of the
Sacred Books.
 A Brief Survey o f Buddhist Art
A. I n I ndia
The followers of the Buddha came largely from the
commercial classes and their wealth made it possible for the
gigantic stupas and caityas to be built at Sanchi and
Bharhut in central India, Amaravatl and Nagarjunakonda
in South India and Karle and Bhaja in western India. The
creation of the Orders of Buddhist monks and nuns
(bhiksus and bhik$unls) is evidence of the Buddha’s altruism
(karuna). The monks and the nuns, like their Master, adopt­
ed an itinerant life and moved from place to place, from
caves to rock-cut dwellings. As the Buddhist church grew,
the merchants and royal votaries, foremost among whom was
Emperor Atoka, endowed the Buddhist Sangha and built
caityas. stGpas and monasteries or viharas. With corporate
life came the monastery, and into the monastery were intro­
duced temples and chapels. Thus on the cool and peaceful
hills, where Buddhist monks and nuns gathered, arose marvel*
lous Buddhist cave temples as at Karle, Kanheri and Bhaja in
Bombay State and Ajanta in the Deccan. Painting and
sculpture which evoke the artist’s admiration were enlisted
to display the glory of the Buddha, and the life of the Master,
“his past births (the Jatakas) and other edifying legends be­
came their subject matter.
In the three centuries before and after the birth of
Christ, India witnessed a phenomenal growth of Buddhist art
and culture. A large number of stupas and caityas built
during this period were richly carved with scenes from the life
of the Buddha and his previous births. The inspiration o f
Buddhist art came from religion and the sculptural wealth
of Buddhist edifices goes to prove that religion did not neces­
sarily mean ritual or doctrine, but that latent spiritual quality
which finds ‘tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,
sermons in stones and good in everything’. In the North-
West, owing to the impact of Greece and Rome, a hybrid art
developed and a complete Buddhist imagery called Gandhara
was elaborated. Gradually the orthodox Buddhist doctrine
underwent a change. Popular beliefs, magic and sorcery, col­
lectively known as tantra, began to spread among the people
and through it Buddhism and Hinduism were brought closer.
The former was about to be absorbed into Hinduism when
the Muslim invaders descended on the scene, swept Buddhism
from the Indian soil, destroyed the viharas, where the bhiksus
and bhiksunis lived, scattered them and broke their hierarchy.

The Stupa in Buddhist A rt

The highest objects of worship for the Buddhist are the
Triratna or the three jewels: (1) the Buddha, (2) the Dharma,
and (3) the Sangha. There are also other objects of worship
which, when compared with the Triratna, can only be des­
cribed as material or formal, but which appealed more
forcibly to the layman than all the precepts, parables and
sayings of the Buddha put together. These are the relics of
holy persons like the Buddha, the Pratyeka-buddhas, the
Arhats, and the Cakravartins, over which great monuments
were erected by a ‘grateful posterity’. In the majority of cases,
these relics are what are called dhatus which can bfe conve­
niently grouped into three classes, namely, £aririka or corpo­
real relics, uddesika or memorials and paribhogika or
‘objects having been of use to the Buddha, sacred, spots, holy
trees, and the like’.
According to tradition, the oldest corporeal relics are the
hairs of the Buddha which were given to the merchants
Tapusa and Bhallika, and later deposited by them in a shrine
built in their native city in Orissa.
The chief corporeal relics are ‘those which are properly
called Sariras, i.e., the remains of a corpse after cremation'.
The Buddha died in the land of the Mallas who did honour
to his bones with dancing, music, garlands and perfumes.
AjataSatru from Rajagrha, the Licchavis of Vaisali, the
5>akyas of Kapilavastu, the Bulis of Allakappa, the Mallas of
Pava, the Koliyas of RamagrSma and a brahmana from
Vethadipa—all claimed their share in the division of the
relics.
It appears that after the division had been made, a
messenger of the Mauryas of Pippalivana came for a portion
of the relics. As there was nothing left, he took pieces of
coal which the Mauryas began to revere and placed in a
stupa. Thus, originally there were eight stupas: in Rajagrha,
Vaisali, Kapilavastu, Allakappa, Ramagrama, Vethadipa,
Pava and Kusinagara, besides those erected by Brahmana
Drona and the Mauryas of Pippalivana.
In addition to these relics, there are others, the tooth
relics, one of which is worshipped in heaven, another in
Gandhara, and one each in Kalinga and the land of the Nagas
respectively. The Daladavamsa (composed about 310 A.D.)
speaks of the history of the eye-tooth (daipstra) relic which
was taken to Dantapura or Kalinga-nagari, the capital of
Kalinga.
The paribhoga-dhatus which served the Buddha and the
saints are such objects as garments, bowls, sticks, and trees.
These were worshipped equally with the bone relics, and
like the latter, possessed miraculous powers. It is difficult
to determine the period in which these holy remains began
to be venerated, but there is no doubt that the practice
of worshipping relics was already fully established, both
in the North and in the South, long before the beginning of
mediaeval times. The Chinese pilgrims speak of having seen
the Buddha’s staff, kasaya and sanghati, in the neighbour­
hood of Nagara. Referring to his visit to Peshawar, Fa-hien
speaks of the alms bowl of the Buddha. The Simhalese
chronicle, Dipavaipsa, speaks of many paribhoga relics, such
as ‘the drinking vessel of Buddha Kakusandha, the girdle
 of Koqagamana, the bathing cloth of Kassapa, and that
of Gautama’, and records that the latter’s girdle was preserved
in the Kayabandhana-Cetiya.
Similarly, Yuan Chwang speaks of the head-dresses of
Prince Siddhartha, associating them with the vihara at
Konkanapura in South India. We are also indebted to the
Chinese pilgrim for his reference, in his account, to
certain other relics which were also worshipped. Thus, the
Buddha is said to have left his shadow in certain places near
Kaulambi, Gaya and Nagara, to which the believers go even
today to pay homage. The Chinese pilgrim says that he was
lucky enough to see the shadow of the Lord at Gaya. We also
hear of places where the Buddha is said to have left his foot­
prints for the faithful to worship. Sanctuaries of different
kinds have risen in all these places and the relics within them
are worshipped to this day.
The most general name for a sanctuary is caitya, ‘a term
not only applying to buildings, but to sacred trees, memorial
stones, holy spots, images and religious inscriptions. Hence,
all edifices having the character of a sacred monument are
caityas but not all caityas are edifices’. The earliest surviv­
ing architectural relic is the caitya of the Buddhist period,
which is not specially Buddhistic but was adopted by the
Buddhists from Vedic architectural models. We learn that
memorial mounds were erected over the relics of worthy
people even in the pre-Buddhist age. The word caitya is
derived from the word cita, or funeral pile, and denotes any­
thing connected with a funeral pile, e.g., the tumulus raised
over the bones of a dead saint Although generally speaking
caitya means a relic shrine or a temple or any place of wor­
ship, technically it means a mound. The term stGpa is
analogous to caitya, as it also means a mound, or something
which is raised. Later, the term caitya came to mean a
shrine, an altar or a temple. For our purposes it is necessary
for us to understand caitya as meaning a mound containing
a relic, e.g., ashes, bones, hair or a tooth of the Buddha.
Caitya is a religious term, while stQpa is an architectural term
 for a relic mound.
The stupa is often identified with the dagoba, but in­
correctly so, since a dagoba is only part of the stupa. The
stQpa is the whole monument, while the dagoba is only the
area where the relic is deposited. As most of the stupas
are erected over relics, they may also be called dagobas. Not
all stupas, however, contain relics, since many were built on
spots where some memorable event connected either with
the life of the Buddha or his Jatakas had taken place. Two
stupas are thus said to have been erected near Banaras where
the Buddha preached his first sermon and where 500 Pratyeka-
buddhas entered nirvana.
The earliest stupas, such as those found in the Bharhut
and the Sanchi sculptures, show a circular or square base, with
or without a railing. Over this base rests a dome which is
surmounted by a graduated inverted pyramid. This is con­
nected with the dome by means of a short neck (gala). The
whole is surmounted by a chattra or chattras, one above the
other, with flags and garlands suspended from them.
The oldest stupa in brick is the remnant at Piprawha, on
the Nepal frontier, which probably dates from about 450 B.C.
The remains at Piprawha show that brick was used for build­
ing long before the birth of rock architecture.
The most typical form of the stupa, which is known to
be the earliest Buddhist building, is furnished by the stupas
at Sanchi. It is said of the Great StQpa that it was originally
built in brick by Aioka and hence dates from the third century
B.C. Its stone casings, railings and gateways were added
a century later. It is in the shape of a hemispherical dome
(anda) truncated at the top and placed over a lofty terrace.
This terrace must have been a procession path for pradak§ina.
A railing or balustrade of stone (prakara), ‘which was origi­
nally of wood, and was copied later in stone’, encloses the
dome and the terrace. The dome is surmounted by a pavilion
(harmika) from which rises the shaft (danda) of the umbrella
(chattra), the ‘Indian emblem of sovereignty, signifying the
reign of Dharma, the religious faith propagated by ASoka, the
great Buddhist Dharmaraja’. The finial is called the tee which
is derived from the Burmese word hti.
The stupa underwent an interesting development in its
chattra which, from being one originally, increased in number
till it became a cluster of umbrellas, giving an elongated
appearance to the later stupas such as those in China and
Nepal, and slowly lengthening out ‘in the shape of the Indo-
Aryan spire, the stupa itself inclining to the form of a tower’
These umbrellas which may be two. three, five, seven, nine
or thirteen, and the gradations of the pavilion which is placed
over the dome, all suggest divisions of the universe. Thus
we may safely surmise that a symbolical significance is
attached to each part of the stupa, the stOpa itself representing
Mount Meru.
The elongation that the dome gradually underwent can
be seen in the caitya of Svayambhunatha of Nepal and the
Thuparama dagoba of Anuradhapura in Ceylon (circa 246
B.C.). The earlier evolutions are best illustrated in the forms
achieved in the tope at Manikyala (Rawalpindi district),
ascribed to about 30 B.C. and the more elaborate example at
Ahin Posh in the Jelalabad valley. The important features
of the last named stupa are the storeyed terrace and the stair­
case at the four quarters, a scheme which might have been
carried to Java, as illustrated in the plan of the Borobudur.
In Burma, the early Indian model went through so many
modifications that it is difficult to recognize its original proto­
type in them In* the Mingalazedi Pagoda in Pagan, dated
1274 A.D., the platform is in storeyed terraces, and the dome
shrinks into a cone, almost merging into the finial which ter­
minates in a spire, the umbrella having already disappeared.
The intermediate stage, however, is well illustrated in the
carved representations of the stupa met with on the marble
slabs at Amaravat! in South India.
The railings which consist of pillars (stambhas), pierced
with cross bars (sQci) and surmounted by copings (u§ni§a) are
also characteristic features of Buddhist architecture. They
are a convincing proof that wooden architecture preceded
* *

i
SvaynmbhiinnTlia Nf » o a I
M i n g a l a / e d i P a g o d a . P a g a n , B u r m a , nth c e n t u r y V I ) . ( C o u r t e s y , D e p a r t m
o f A r r h a e o l o fi y . B u r m a )
stone in the history of Buddhist architecture. From mere
imitations in stone of plain wooden balustrades, they develop­
ed into the later examples, such as the railing at Bodh Gaya
and the elaborately carved marble railings at Amaravatl (2nd
century A.D.). The reader who wishes to know the history
of the various stQpas to be found in different parts of India,
Burma and Ceylon, will find the travel accounts of the
Chinese pilgrims interesting.
The stupa is so constructed that its very shape suggests
its affinity to the grave-mound; the dome answers to the
tumulus, the railing to the fencing or circle of stones, and the
top to the stake or column on the grave. While, however,
there are some dagobas in Ceylon, of which the domes are
bell shaped, the generally approved form of the stupa is ‘that
of a water bubble surmounted by three umbrellas, one of the
gods, the second of men, the third of final Deliverance or
Nothingness’. A study of a different type of stupa found at
Borobudur in Java and at Mingyun in Burma will demon­
strate how, in the course of its development, the stupa acquir­
ed the characteristics of a prasada or tower with a number
of stair-like divisions. An example is the Mahal Prasada at
Polonnaruva in Ceylon.

Sculpture and Bronze

Sculptures and bronzes in India have not only been re­
garded as works of art but also as objects of religious vene­
ration. They have now assumed archaeological and icono-
graphic importance, although their appeal is also largely
aesthetic.
Between the proto-historic art of the Indus Valley and
the historical Mauryan period <4th—3rd century B.C.) there
exists a big gap which has still to be filled by the actual re­
mains of material culture. In the 3rd century B.C.. however,
we meet with Indian stone sculpture springing into magni­
ficent forms. The lion capital of Samath and the stone bull
of Ramapurva are masterpieces of Mauryan sculpture both
for their vigour and their expression. Besides the refined
 courtly art exemplified by these lion or bull capitals, there
also flourished an archaic religious art based on a wide­
spread cult of tutelary deities, such as the yak§as and the
yaksls. The majesty of such figures as the Parkham Yakga,
Patna Yaksa and the Yak$I figure from Didarganj (3rd
century B.C.) owes more to their size, volume and form, than
to their spiritual expression. However, no bronze images
have yet been found which are representative of either the
courtly art or the archaic religious art of Mauryan times.
Indian art entered a phase of intense activity in the 2nd
century B.C., when under the direct influence of Buddhism
a synthesis suitable to the Indian genius was effected between
the higher and the lower forms of beliefs. This produced
very rich sculpture, which is preserved on the railings and
gateways of the stOpas of Sanchi (Bhopal) and Bharhut
(central India), Amaravati and Nagarjunakonda (Guntur
district. South India). Some bronze images of the Buddha,
dating not earlier than the 2nd century A.D., have also been
found in Amaravati and its neighbourhood. From the 2nd
century A.D. onwards the image of the Buddha was sufficient­
ly popular for artists to carve or cast it as a matter of course,
with the result that we have today an extensive sculpture
sequence of the Buddha image.
Though the art of metal casting is of great antiquity, as
shown by the first example of the dancing girl from Mohenjo-
daro of the third millennium B.C., we do not come across
any metal images until the 1st century A.D., when small
figures appear in TaksaSila in the North and Amaravati in
the South.
A vital and prolific school of Indian sculpture sprang
up at Mathura in the 1st century A.D., remarkable both for
its statuary which is illustrative of sectarian belief and for its
beautiful figure sculpture, of which the best examples are
feminine forms carved on the railing pillars with birds, flora,
fauna and flowing streams.
The school of Mathura found its fulfilment in the Gupta
age (4th—5th century AJD.) which ushered in the golden age
Ad o ra ti o n of tin* B u d d h a ’s A l m s Bo w l. L i m es t o n e . A m ar av a t i. '2nd c e n tu r y
< (o u r t e s > . Madras G o v e r n m e n t M u s e u m , Ma dra s)
 of Indian art. The sensuous freedom and plasticity of the
Mathura figures were now replaced by restraint, elegance of
form and spiritual expression. The great Buddha figures of
Mathura. Sarnath, Ajanta. and Bihar are immortal speci­
mens which symbolize the ideals of a whole age. The faces
are radiant with spiritual ecstasy and the smiling countenance
with downcast eyes adequately conveys the divine, compas­
sionate love (karuna) of the Buddha for all beings. It is to
the Guptas that we owe the perfect visual image of the
Buddha type of being, which has rightly been considered the
greatest creation of Indian art.
Bronzes of the Gupta period rank with the best stone
sculpture such as the life-size Buddha from Sultanganj in
Bihar <5th century A.D.), which is now in the Birmingham
Art Gallery, and the beautiful Brahma image from the
Mirpur-khas stQpa in Sindh. Metal images became increas­
ingly popular from about the 8th century A.D.
Elegance of form and richness of spiritual expression
characterize the bronzes of the Pala period (9th—12th century
A.D.) from Nalanda and Kurkihar, both in Bihar. The
development of the Pala school, the eastern school of
Taranatha, is best seen at Nalanda. the importance of which
as a centre of Buddhist learning continued undiminished, in
spite of the political decadence of Magadha, until the monas­
teries were destroyed by the Muslims about 1197 A.D.
Nalanda has been the richest source of the well-known,
smooth images in black slate and has also yielded an extensive
series of Buddhist bronzes. The importance of Nalanda as
a centre of Buddhist culture and as a source of iconographic
and stylistic influences throughout the East, is well illustrated
by the close relations that existed between Nalanda and
Sumatra and Java in the 9th century, as shown by the copper
plate of Devapala-deva in which references are made to the
important monastery at Nalanda built by Balaputra of
Suvarna-dvipa (circa 860 A.D.). Nepal and Burma, too, were
closely connected with Nalanda. Eastern India, comprising
Bihar and Bengal, which can be treated as one province from
the point of view of the development of art, under Pala and
Sena rule, and Mayurbhanj followed the classicaf traditions
evolved in the Gupta period.
Another large series of remarkable metal images from
Kurkihar in the district of Gaya in Bihar shows a close affinity
to those at Nalanda and belong almost to the same period
and school. Yet another large series of Buddhist metal
images, perhaps of Nalanda origin, has been found at
Chittagong in East Bengal, and appears to date from the 10th
to the 13th century A.D. Some others, found in Kashmir, are
evidently of the same type.
A great and prolific school of sculpture existed in eastern
India during the Pala period (9th—12th century A.D.). All
finds of metal images that belong to this period, whether
they are Buddhist, Brahmanical or Jain, and whether they
are made at Kurkihar or Nalanda in Bihar, or at Rangpur,
Rajshahi, Dinajpur, Dacca, or the Sundarbans in Bengal, are
examples of Pala art. The modelling of the Pala bronzes is
good, although it is not their most remarkable feature as it
is in those of the Gupta period. The lines and soft curves of
the figures are pleasing, and their expression has an appeal
which justifies the modern enthusiasm for the Pala bronzes.
The Buddhist images found at Jhewari in Chittagong (9th—
13th century A.D.), on the other hand, are marked by rugged­
ness and constraint. These may be called provincial variations
of the Pala school, although they probably have affinities with
the school that flourished in Burma and Assam in this period.
Small metal images, particularly those of Buddhist divinities
found at Nalanda and Kurkihar, have provided the inspiration
for the Nepalese copper gilt images. Some of these Buddhist
and Hindu metal images, however, must have been brought
by Javanese pilgrims who came to visit the sacred shrines of
eastern India.
Although they are rare, Buddhist bronzes are occasionally
found in South India, mostly in the Tanjore district, and date
from the 10th to the 15th century A.D. Since 1856, about
350 Buddhist bronzes of the Mahayana, seme of which are
T h e B u d d h a . B r o n z e , D on^ D u o n g in C am pa, 3rd c e n tu r y A .I),
(C o u r te s y , E co le F r a n c a is e d ’E x tr e m e -O r ie n t, H a n o i)
inscribed, were recovered from the sites of the viharas raised
in Nagapattinam by the $ailendras of Sumatra during the
time of the Cola kings, RSjaraja I and Rajendra Coja I.
Some of these bronzes belong to the early Co.|a period (871—
1070 A.D.) and a large number of the rest to the later Cola
period (1070—1250 A.D.).
The Amaravati, Nalanda and Nagapattinam Buddhist
sculptures and bronzes bring us to a most interesting study,
namely, to that of the culture of South-East Asia, and of the
extent to which Burma, Thailand, Malaya, Sumatra, Java
and Indo-China derived their arts from India.
It is known that ASoka (250 B.C.) sent Buddhist mission­
aries to South-East Asia. Two of them, Sona and Uttara,
went to the ‘Land of Gold’, which is the western part of
Indonesia. In the second and third centuries A.D., Amaravati
in Andhra-desa was a great centre of Hinayana Buddhism,
and the influence of the Amaravati school of art was felt in
Ceylon, in lower and Central Siam (Thailand) and possibly
in Sumatra. Burma and Siam are still Buddhist in faith,
though they have witnessed repeated invasions through the
centuries, involving them in much bloodshed and anarchy.
The Indian colonies were bound to the motherland by the
silken ties of art, culture and religion. In the 5th century
A.D., the Golden Age in northern India under the famous
Guptas and in South India under the glorious Pallavas left
its mark on the colonies1 and their culture.
The last trend of Indian art to influence colonial art is
found in the 11th century products of the Pala kingdom of
Bihar and Bengal. Under the spell of Pala art and faith,
the early Burmese kings of Pagan became intimately con­
nected with Bodh Gaya and Nalanda which led to the in­
troduction of a new image of the Buddha of the Sthaviravada
school. This form of the Buddha image gradually found its
way from Burma into North Siam where it became the fore­
runner of the Siamese school of art. An account of how the
I* The term colonies is iu»d here in the sense of outgrowths of Indian
culture.
Siamese national school was later influenced by a new form
of the Buddha image from Ceylon and from South India
covers eight different periods of Thailand’s interesting history.
The spread of Indian scripts, languages, literatures and
faiths, and especially Buddhism, to South-East Asia is a most
fascinating story. The Buddhist images of South-East Asia
illustrate artistic contacts between India and Greater India
and help to show that Indian art in South-East Asia is a
continuation and development of the Indian creative genius
under colonial conditions. Indeed, the arts of Java, Sumatra,
Cambodia. Siam and Burma, recover for us one of the lost
pages in the history of Indian art.
Painting
There are innumerable references to painted decorations
in the Jatakas and other Buddhist literature. The earliest
surviving examples of Buddhist paintings dating from the
2nd century B.C., are found in some of the caitya halls at
Ajanta in the Deccan. A principal wall painting of the
period is in cave No. 9 which is devoted to the illustration
of §addanta Jataka. However, Buddhist painting seems to
have attained its maturity only during the Gupta period
(5th—6th century A.D.). The finest specimens of this period
are to be found in the caves at Bagh (central India) and
Ajanta. The mural paintings in the Ajanta caves contain
representations of scenes from the Buddha's life, from the
conception to the attainment of nirvana, as well as from the
Jataka stories, such as the §a<Jdanta, ViSvantara, K$antivadin.
and several others. These stories are represented in conti­
nuous narrative. The human and animal figures display
vigour, adding grace and vitality to the style which reveals
great delicacy and depth of feeling. A quiet dignity, poise
and detachment are the hall-marks of classical Buddhist
paintings in India.
A few Buddhist paintings, as already noted, are found on
the walls of cave No. 4 at Bagh. Though they are Buddhist
in theme and allied to Ajanta in style, they are basically secu-
lar in character, and significantly reflect contemporary life.
The mediaeval period in eastern and western India was
a period of intense activity in manuscript writing. As the
authors of manuscripts wanted to embellish their books with
illustrations, the use of miniature painting came into vogue.
The miniature paintings of eastern India of the Pala period
deal mostly with Buddhist gods and godesses and the art,
though simple in composition, is characterized by sinuous
lines and subdued tones. Some of the best examples of
miniature paintings are to be found in the Prajnaparamita
and other Buddhist texts of the 12th to the 14th century A.D.

B. In O t h e r A s ia n C o u n t r i e s

The influence of Buddhist art has probably no parallel in

Asia. When it is remembered that the earliest historical re­
mains in India are generally Buddhist, the continuous deve­
lopment of Buddhist art in and outside India forms a fasci­
nating story. Successive dynasties of kings while patronizing
art brought into being great monuments worthy of not only
the highest veneration by devotees, but of admiration of art
connoisseurs from all parts of the world.
If the study of Indian art of the historical period begins,
to all intents and purposes, with the very few. but most valu­
able specimens of the sculptor’s art of the Mauryan period,
the Asokan pillar capitals crowned by animals show a vigour
which strangely combines indigenous traditions with import­
ed influences. It is known from the inscriptions of Asoka
that he had wide contacts with foreign powers and it
is no wonder that such influences from Persia are seen in
these pillar capitals. There are several terracottas of the
early centuries of the Christian era from Mathura, which was
a great centre of Buddhism, showing peculiar caps in terra­
cotta figurines. During the time of the Satraps of Mathura,
the fusion of foreign with indigenous traditions continued and
in the Kusana period we have several examples of these inter­
esting features in stone and clay. If the Kusana sculptures in
some cases show strong Gandhara influence, it is to be
 accounted for by the fact that the large empire of the Kudi­
nas included the north-western frontier also. If the
Kusana sculpture of the 2nd century A.D. with such charm­
ing carvings as the Bhutesar yaksis and other similar carv­
ings is closely allied to similar sculptures from the Krsna
valley in Amaravati and elsewhere, where the traditions of
fusion with foreign elements also existed, it is because both
the schools grew out of an earlier common source in the
Mauryan period and were continued in the North and South
by the Surigas and the Satavahanas respectiyely, of whom
the former were succeeded by the Kusanas in the North.
It is startling indeed to discover that the exquisite ivory
carvings from Begram1 so closely resemble the Kusana sculp­
ture from Mathura of the 1st and 2nd centuries A.D.; but
this is easily understood when it is remembered that they are
from the western end of the Kusana empire and are reminis­
cent of sculpture found along the eastern and western borders
of the ^atavahana empire. The torana gateways, the toilet
scenes, the mithunas, the makaras, the lotus motifs and the
long undulating creeper motif of the kalpavalli type are all
favourite themes equally in the Kusana sculpture of Mathura.
It is the same toilet box here as at Sanchi. The type of
mirror held by the damsel decorating herself and arranging
her coiffure is the same as in Mathura or even Amaravati.
Indeed, one of the medallions depicting the toilet scene of
Mayadevi as Suddhodana visits her, from one of the cross­
bars of the Amaravati rail, cannot but flash across the mind
of anyone examining these ivories.
The motif of two maidens closely held together under an
arched gateway, which is of frequent occurrence in these
ivories, is strongly suggestive of a similar pair of maidens in
Kusana workmanship from Mathura.
The drunken lady almost sinking to the ground and sup­
ported as she is raised, a motif that is a favourite one in
1. In Afghanistan. An excellent comparative fttudy on this aspect has
been made by Mile. Jeanine Auboyer in ‘La vie priv^e dans UJnde ancienne
d'apr&s les ivoires de Begram', in Nouvelles Recherches archtohgique# a Begram.
 Mathura sculpture, has its prototype in Begram also.
The slipping on of the mafijlra on the foot of the lady
in Begram is not only frequently met with in Kusana sculp­
ture from Mathura and in ^atavahana sculpture from the
Amaravati rail, but continues even later as a pleasing motif
in Gupta art. One has only to recall in this connection the
vamanika busy adjusting the manjira of the queen; one of
the gems of Cakravarti MandhatS from an Amaravati sculp­
ture now preserved in the British Museum. The prasadhika
adjusting the anklet at Begram is an equally interesting
vamanika with whose performance her mistress is highly
pleased as seen from her beaming face.
The adjusting of the necklace in an artistic fashion as
depicted in a Mathura sculpture from Sarikasya, now pre­
served in the Indian Museum, Calcutta, is bound to strike
one examining a similar ivory carving from Begram. The
maiijiras are presented to the lady who sits on a low circular
seat .waiting to be decorated, as is the case in sculpture
elsewhere in India, for instance, at Amaravati, where the
prasadhika kneels at her feet, and offers her the anklets on
a tray.
The adjusting of the ear ornament (kundala), as it is shown
at Begram, calls attention to the padmaraga type of ear-ring
at Nagarjunakonda.
The woman wringing the water from her long, flowing
tresses after her bath while a swan hastens to swallow the
drops of water mistaking them for pearls is as pleasing a
motif here as in Mathura.
The beautiful description of the lady riding a richly capa­
risoned horse, as given in the Harsacarita by Bana, is pro­
bably most effectively depicted in sculpture at Begram.
The dancing scenes from Begram have their counterparts
at Mathura and Amaravati and the harp-shaped vina, the
flute, the karatala and the mrdanga are easily recognized.
The lady carrying food and water, the former on a plate
with a conical lid, is found both at Amaravati and Mathura.
It occurs again and in the same manner at Begram also and
the common heritage is unmistakable.
Another phase of this art in Gandhara shows the power­
ful influence of Greco-Roman traditions on this area where
some of the finest figures of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas were
created. In fact, the earliest images of the Buddha in human
form, which were contemporary with, if not earlier than, the
earliest similar representations of the indigenous schools at
Mathura and at Amaravati, are the Gandhara images of the
Buddha. The Master is here conceived in Greek pattern—
almost Apollonian in physical beauty—and even the gar­
ments that adorn him are arranged with folds characteris­
tic of Greco-Roman sculpture. Even for the Bodhisattvas
everything except the jewellery is well-nigh Greek in concep­
tion and execution. In these Gandhara figures a notable
feature is the presentation of the physical form with its great
emphasis on anatomy. The sculptor does not round off the
contours, but takes great pains to indicate the modelling of
the human form in such a way as to suggest the strength of
physical perfection through the disposition of the muscles.
In indigenous sculpture, on the other hand, the angularities
are not shown and the contours are rounded to suggest some­
thing spiritual, avoiding the element of flesh. Some of the
masterpieces of Gandhara sculpture demonstrate the great
care and study the sculptor bestowed on depicting the physi­
cal form.
The Buddha as an ascetic, almost skin and bone with the
veins standing out, could never have been conceived by a
sculptor of the indigenous school, and is depicted only in
Gandhara sculpture. The most perfect representation of
the emaciated Buddha is preserved in the Lahore Museum.
The sunken eyes, the skeletal features, and the protruding
veins of this figure of the Master make it indeed a rare
specimen of Gandhara art.
The representations of Siddhartha’s birth in indigenous
sculpture all over the country never portray the child in
human form, whereas in Gandhara sculpture the child is
shown as issuing from his mother’s side. Even at Amara-
 , MUM Iiiwiniiii till) I..... .

Scent*. Iv o r y , B e g r a m , lst-2 n d Centura A.I). (C o u r te sy ,

M u see G u im et, P a ris)
C o lo s s i Liuddh.i. Rami.van, 4th-5th ce n tu ry A .l). (T h ro u g h E.A .M .)
vati and at Nagarjunakonda where the physical form of the
Buddha came into vogue by the second century of the
Christian era, the child’s birth is indicated by footsteps on
the silken garment held by Indra and it is only in Gandhara
sculpture that the human form of the new-born babe is
represented.
The presence of Vajrapani as a body-guard of the Buddha
is another feature that is found in Gandhara sculpture depict­
ing scenes from the Buddha’s life. Vajrapani is conceived
here almost like Hercules with a very rough bone shaped
thunderbolt in his hand. The milder Vajrapani in Amara­
vati and Nagarjunakonda sculpture may well have been
derived from this type. However, in the former case both
the figure of Vajrapani and the form of the vajra undergo a
transformation. The thunderbolt becomes three-pronged on
either side and the wielder of this weapon becomes an
attractive deva very different from the bearded and semi-
naked muscular figure in Gandhara sculpture.
Even in the representation of individual scenes of the
Buddha’s life in which Gandhara art abounds, there are
several special features which are noteworthy. The scene of
the Buddha attending school and his scholastic life are a
great favourite of this school of sculpture and the prince is
generally represented as travelling in a chariot drawn by
rams. Taksasila being a great seat of learning, the sculptor
never missed an opportunity of representing ‘he prince slate
in hand, busy learning the alphabet. The scene of the great
departure in Gandhara sculpture is always accompanied by
the preceding scene of the prince taking a last look at his
faithful wife and his new-born child. The sending of the
assasins by Devadatta is another common scene in which
the Gandhara sculptor takes great pains to show the ruffians
as specimens of great muscular strength. Probably, the
best representation of the Buddha in Gandhara sculpture is
the one from Hoti-Mardan. It must be noted that in
Gandhara sculpture the halo of the Buddha is of the sim­
plest without any border decoration as in the Mathura
 Kusana figures where the scalloped edge is a typical feature.
The reliquary from Shahji-ki-dheri from the stupa near
Peshawar excavated by Spooner is important as it bears
an inscription with the name of Kaniska and of Agisala, the
Greek craftsman who made it. It is a valuable treasure of
the Peshawar Museum. It is noteworthy that here the row
of geese with their necks bent and beaks thrust forward is
very similar to the one on the Asokan lion capital from
Ramapurva, except for the fact that their wings are extend­
ed. Below this frieze the reliquary is decorated with a
garland roll carried by playful juvenile cupids. The Buddha
is seated on the lid of the casket with two attendant figures
on either side.
In Bamiyan in Afghanistan there are colossal figures of
the Buddha modelled on an earlier Gandhara type, belong­
ing to the 3rd and 4th centuries A.D. These colossal
images, one of them 175 feet high and another about
120 feet, evoked the admiration of Yuan Chwang who saw
them on his way. These figures are carved out of a sand­
stone cliff in the region in niches, like the monasteries and
temples that honeycomb the area for over a mile. The
creation of these is undoubtedly one of the boldest strokes
of the later Gandhara sculptor. Clearly, in producing such
colossuses the object is to emphasize the mahapurusa aspect
of the great Master, who, according to legend, could fill the
largest throne as he did when he went to heaven. He was
represented as a towering figure of gigantic height to domi­
nate and arrest attention. It is this concept that accounts
for the gigantic images found elsewhere, for instance, in
Ceylon and Thailand and Chandi Mendut in Java. It may
be recalled that the great parinirvana figure of the Buddha
at Ajanta of the Gupta-Vakataka period is also colossal.
The Gandhara stupa is interesting as a phase of develop­
ment from the earlier simpler stupa with emphasis on the
square base, the circular drum, and the large knd conical
finial over the harmika, and a similar development will be
observed in Ceylon, Burma and Thailand also.
lio d h is a ttv a . T er r a -c o tta , F on d u k istn n , c. 7th c e n tu r y A .D .
Thuparama I»agoba. \nuradhapura, Ceylon (Courtesy, Department of
Archaeology, Ceylon)
 The lantern roof of the sanctuaries at Bamiyan is parti­
cularly noteworthy. The laying of beams diagonally across
the corners of a square in successive tiers of diminishing
dimensions is especially associated with this area from where
it must have spread to both western Asia and Turkestan.
From Hadda 1 come some of the finest figures in stucco
which probably go back to the 4th and 5th centuries A.D.
They are remarkably well made and are full of life and
animation. There is a rare strength and vitality in these
stucco figures. The element of portraiture is very strong
and it may be said to have reached perfection in this area.
From Fondukistan 2 are derived some of those exquisitely
worked and extraordinarily beautiful figures of Bodhisattvas
and Buddhas, the former wearing flowing garments on their
youthful bodies which are so modelled as to suggest soft­
ness to the touch. The figures are animated and have the
rare grace that one comes across in Gupta works of about
the same period in Indian art. The bejewelled Buddha
from Fondukistan represents a compromise between the
emperor and the monk, for it must not be forgotten that the
astrologers had predicted two possibilities for the child of
Suddhodana-—either that of a universal emperor or thal of
a universal Master after enlightenment. This almost in­
congruous combination of a monk’s garb with royal decora­
tion in a variety of rich jewellery was probably a special
feature of Fondukistan as of the mediaeva’ sculpture of the
eastern Indian school under the Palas. In this connection,
it should be remembered that the crowned Buddha common­
ly met with in Pala sculpture was a replica of this earlier
Fondukistan variety; but while here the curls of the Buddha
are still the same as in normal figures with ear ornaments,
necklets and other jewels, the crowned Buddha of Pala sculp­
ture has a regular crown on his head in addition.
The classical Indian element can still be found at
Bamiyan and in Chinese Turkestan where the paintings
1. In Afghanistan.
2. Also in Afghanistan.
show great affinity with those at Ajanta and Bagh. The
painting of damsels from the large Buddha niche from
Bamiyan, which is comparable to a similar figure from the
Treasure Cave in Kizil in Turkestan, is a case in point. The
lady in the lotus tank from Dandan Uiliq is yet another
example of a figure of classical Indian grace found in Central
Asia. It recalls a verse of Kalidasa describing a summer
scene when the lotus stalks in the pond rise out of the water
as it recedes from the steps of the pond, so that the damsel
stands only up to her hip in water as she steps in for
her bath: uddattdapadmani grhadirghikdnam narinitamba-
dvayasam babhuva1.
Hariti has been given an honoured place in Buddhist
sculpture. She is a great favourite as she comes closest to
the highest of the matrka concept—the mother bestowing
the purest maternal affection on her children. The figure of
Hariti with that of Paficika is probably as much a favourite
in Gandhara sculpture as is Hariti by herself in Chinese
Turkestan and in Java. A fine sculpture, remarkably akin
to similar Indian representations, is a modern Japanese
image of Hariti in the collection of Mr. Henry H. Getty. She
has her place in Chinese sculpture also and is shown with a
child in her lap as in the Japanese figure. A wall painting
from Domoko in Chinese Turkestan, and now in the British
Museum, like another painting from Turfan, at present in
the Museum fur Volkerkunde in Berlin, shows this mother
with children playing around her as in the case of the
standing Hariti from Gandhara in the Lahore Museum.
Among the paintings from Chinese Turkestan, there is
one from Kizil in the Kucha area in which a remarkable
scene from the Buddha’s life is presented. India, where the
story of Ajatasatru has been represented in a few scenes at
Bharhut and Amaravati, has unfortunately no such scene.
This remarkable painting depicts king Ajatasatru as the story
of the passing of the Buddha is narrated to him. It was
feared that the disclosure of the news would so shock the
1. RaghnvaniMti, X VI, 4*5.
king that it would at once cause his death. His wise minis­
ter, Varsakara, caused the principal scenes from the Buddha’s
life to be presented on a canvas in order to be shown to the
king so that he could understand the final death or the
nirvana of the Buddha by a narration beginning with his
birth, his enlightenment, his first sermon and concluding with
his death. In this remarkable painting there is a fine admix­
ture of Indian, Persian and Chinese elements, though the
central painting, the scroll shown to Ajatasatru, is almost
completely Indian in feeling.
The influence of Buddhist art from India can also be
traced in the figures of the Buddhas in the Thousand Caves
of the Buddhas at Tun-huang in China. The wall paintings
in these caves are akin to those at Bamiyan and may be
said to be related to those at Ajanta. The so-called lantem-
roof at Bamiyan is also found in Tun-huang. Rock carv­
ings at Yun Kang clearly show Indian origin. Some of the
figures are draped in the Indian dhoti style which suggests
that the artists themselves were probably Indian. In Shansi-
Hope Province (to the west of Peking), twenty-one big
caves have been discovered. They are supposed to be the
oldest Buddhist monuments in China. Their sculptures are
in the style of Bamiyan, Gandhara and Ajanta and the
human figures are Indian. So also are the newly discovered
grottos on Maichi mountain (Kansu Province), where figures
are seen in Indian drapery (dhoti uttarasanga) with crowns
on their heads.
The Chinese Buddhist Association recently published
(Nationalities Publishing House, Peking, 1955) a number of
colour plates illustrating Buddhist scenes and monuments in
China and Tibet. They show Buddhist sculptures from the
4th century onwards in the grottos of Yun-kang, Maichi-
shan and of Pingling temple as well as in the caves at Tun-
huang. These art monuments show the influence of the
Gandhara school as well of the pure Indian style of the
Gupta period.
The characteristics of the art of painting in Central Asia
 and China provided a prototype for the Buddhist paintings
of the T ’ang period in China and for the paintings at
Horyuji in Japan. The paintings on the walls of the
Horyuji Monastery ( 8th century A.D.) clearly recall Indian
influence which may perhaps have come through China.
Like the Hariti figures which abound wherever Bud­
dhism spread, sculptures and paintings representing the
guardians of the quarters are to be found in all areas which
came under the influence of Buddhism. One tier in the great
stupa at Borobudur is entirely devoted to the guardians of
the quarters such as Virupaksa, Virudhaka, Dhrtarastra and
Kubera, and there are similar representations in Tibet and
China and even in far-off Japan. From Nara comes the
image of Komoku-ten, the guardian of the west and a counter­
part of Virupaksa. This Nagaraja is shown standing on
a crouching dwarf yaksa very similar to other early yaksa
figures, particularly the Kupira yaksa from Bharhut. The
persistence of this iconographic motif of a normally propor­
tioned yaksa standing on a dwarfed one, a feature also found
in similar representations in early sculpture in India from
Bharhut and elsewhere, even in representations from other
faiths, for instance. Siva on the Gudimallam liriga in South
India, points to a very ancient and popular yaksa cult.
Of the two oldest stupas from Nepal, the Sambhunath and
the Bodhinath, the latter presents a typically Nepalese form.
It is a tumulus over a square base with the box-like harmika
on top, surmounted by the conical finial which is so charac­
teristic of stupas from other parts of South-East Asia, in­
cluding Ceylon and Burma. But here the noteworthy feature
is that the Buddha is conceived of as all-seeing; hence the
pairs of colossal eyes looking in all the four directions.
This concept is to be traced to the idea of caturamukha in
the case of Siva and other deities. Even the colossal faces
looking in the four directions at Bayon at Angkor Thom are
probably meant to reflect the omnipresence which is indi­
cated by Brahma’s four faces.
The Tibetan stGpa is not very different from the Nepalese
one, but the most famous chorten or stupa from Gyan-Tse
with its unusual plan and elevation reminds one of the
Borobudur stupa in Java.
The art of Nepal and Tibet is largely derived from Pala
art, just as Buddhism itself was introduced in this area from
Nalanda. The Buddhist pantheon comprises many gods and
goddesses—the Dhyani Buddhas, the Manus! Buddhas, the
Bhaisajya Buddhas or medicinal Buddhas, Maitreya, the
future Buddha, the Bodhisattvas or potential Buddhas,
Taras, Marici, the Lokapalas, Jambhalas and several other
gods and goddesses. The monasteries in Tibet contain stucco
figures, wood carvings and tanka paintings illustrating belief
in transmigration, magic circles and astrological diagrams
as also gods and goddesses of the pantheon. There are
several portraits from Tibet illustrating great masters like
Padmasambhava, Acarya Atisa and others who were res­
ponsible for the propagation of the faith in that country.
Some of the most marvellous monuments in the Buddhist
world belong to Ceylon, and her sculpture is closely associat­
ed with the early art of the Krishna valley and the later
Pallava and Coja kings owing to the close relations that
existed between South India and Ceylon. The lovely stand­
ing figure of a prince near Ruanweli stupa, believed to
represent king Dutthagamani and dating from the 2nd
century A.D., is equal to any of the best sculptural represent­
ations from Amaravati of the rail period. A standing
Buddha from the same place and of the same date is an
exact replica of similar figures from Amaravati and allied
sites. When it is remembered that Amaravati was a great
centre of Buddhist sculpture and metalwork and that several
bronzes of the Amaravati school have been found in the
Malayan Peninsula and beyond—the figures from Dong
Duong in Indo-China and from Sempaga in the Celebes
being very famous examples of the Andhra metal images in
distant places in South-East Asia—this feature becomes
easily intelligible.
Probably the most remarkable image of the Buddha of
• m y « rty d ... is u « aw ed one in ^

The Nagaraja as dvara-pala at Anuradhapura with a

punya-kalaSa in his hand and a lotus with a long stalk in the
other in early Pallava style still has the grace of an Amara-
vatl work. This is an indication of the gradual substitution
of the former by the motif of the river goddess as guardian
of the gateway, which starting at Amaravati continues in a
modified form in the representation of the lady with a creeper
on a makara. This motif is a common feature of doorways
in South Indian temples. With the makara and the lotus as
motifs for decoration the sculptor of Ceylon has achieved
very pleasing effects as in some of the South Indian Pallava
and Cola temples.
The elephant as the supporter of the universe, which is
found so often in caryatid form in the rathas at Mahabali-
puram and the colossal rock-cut temple at Ellora, has a still
earlier representation in a dedicatory stupa from Anuradha­
pura which goes back to the pre-Christian era.
The moonstone doorstep, irihanda gala, with a pleasing
pattern of lotus petals as in a halo encircled by a border
composed of rows of geese and animals in successive bands
separated by intervening floral designs, at once recalls
similar moonstones from Amaravati and Nagarjunakonda.
The strong influence of the rsi cult and the veneration for
sages, particularly Agastya in South India, has had a special
sculptural efflorescence not only in the extreme south of
Peninsular India, but also in Ceylon and Java. If Bha{ara-
guru of Java is so important and the Agastya figure occurs
in the ship carved in the Borobudur monuments, the features
of the saint are equally prominent in the carving presenting
Parakramabahu at Polonnaruva.
Of the later figures of the 11th and 12th century A.D. in
Ceylon, the colossal one from Polonnaruva of the parinir-
vana of the Buddha, lying in great calm, with his beloved
Ananda standing beside him with his hands crossed in
devotion and veneration, is probably one of the greatest
Apsaras. Sigiriya, Ceylon, 5th century A.D. (Courtesy, Department of
Archaeology, Ceylon)
M oonstone at Q ueen’s P avilion , A nuradhapura, Ceylon
masterpieces of Buddhist art from Ceylon.
The metal image of the Buddha from Badulla, now pre­
served in the Colombo Museum, is modelled after the
Amaravati bronzes while the later images follow the Pallava
and Co)a traditions.
The paintings from Sigiriya are probably more intimate­
ly connected with the Pallava paintings from Sittanavasal,
Panamalai and Kancipuram than any other.
The stupa in Ceylon is a circular drum on a square base
with a long succession of compressed umbrellas forming a
conical top over a box-shaped harmika, of which the
Thuparama Dagoba at Anuradhapura is a fine example. At
Polonnaruva several late Pallava and early Coja features are
easily discerned in the guardian figures, the balustrades with
makara motifs and a frieze of lions. A remarkable mandapa
from Polonnaruva is composed of pillars shaped like stout
lotus stalks of which nothing now remains except the free
standing pillars. The Satmahal-pasada is a seven-storeyed
pavilion which recalls similar pavilions, for instance, the
Baksei Chamkrong from Angkor.
In Burma, the earliest stupas are simpler and nearer to
their Indian prototypes1. The Ngakye Nadaun stupa of the
10th century A.D. from Pagan is almost similar to the
Dhamekh stupa at Sarnath. The Mahabodhi temple at
the same place, which belongs to the 13th century A.D.. at
once recalls the Mahabodhi temple at Gay*. Other stupas
of the 11th and 12th centuries A.D. from Pagan rise in tiers
on a square base and are somewhat more complex than the
most modern Shwe-dagon at Rangoon which is more like
a top with its head cut flat and placed upside down. In
the Ananda temple at Pagan, which belongs to the late 11th
century, the whole story of the Buddha is narrated in in­
teresting panels in which the influence of the Pala as well

1. The stu p a of K uang Htnudaw near the Sa#ain Hills in Upper Burma
oomes closest to the stupa of Sanchi in India, A stupa of a similar shape
b u t with a flame-like projection on the top is also found in the precincts of
V at Visun in Luang-prabang (Laos).
 as Kaliiiga workman is obvious. Several important inci­
dents like the carrying of Maya to lake Anotatta for her
bath by the queens of the guardians of the quarters, are
presented graphically. Such representations are rare even
in India and occur only once at Amaravati. The visit of
sage Asita is as great a favourite in the Burmese narration
of the Buddha's story as at Amaravati and Nagarjunakonda.
The birth scene, particularly in this series, recalls strongly a
combination of Coja and Pala workmanship, which is not
impossible as it was at this time that Rajendra Coja’s fleet
was active in the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean.
The series of Jataka scenes with inscribed descriptive
labels found in the eastern Petleik Pagoda at Pagan consti­
tute an invaluable collection of pictorial representations of
the Jatakas in the 11th century A.D. The script recording
these Jatakas is based on the Vengi type from the Krishna
valley and the figures are modified forms of the Indian. In
the Canda-kinnara Jataka the kinnara pair recalls a similar
kinnara representation at Borobudur. The Valahassa Jataka
recalls the representation from Mathura of the Kusana
period. The portraying of scenes from the Jatakas has
been such a living art that in the modern Pathodawgyi
Pagoda at Amarapura, built in 1820 A.D.. the pictorial
representations are as lively as ever, especially that of the
Kakkata Jataka which recalls similar representations at
Bharhut two thousand years earlier. The Kakkata Jataka
occurs in a similar fashion even in the Petleik Pagoda, nine
centuries earlier. The scene of the Mandhatu Jataka shows
the fallen king passing away in his park on a couch and
explaining to his people the emptiness of worldly wishes and
desires. There is a similar representation at Nagarjuna­
konda.
The incident of Naga Mucalinda protecting the Buddha
from a great storm for seven days and nights after his en­
lightenment, a great favourite in the Krishna valley, is pro­
bably nowhere so prominent as in Siam. The Khmer
sculptor takes the utmost delight in representing the Buddha
The Buddha’s Descent. Siam, after Salmony
 The K ing’s D ream . B orobudur, 8th cen tu ry A.D.

The Sacrifice. Borobudur, 8th cen tu ry A.D.

The King listening to the Bpdhisatyva. Borobudur, 8tb century AD,

 seated on the Naga with the hoods held over his head.
Even in the earliest Amaravati sculpture where the foot­
prints of the Buddha represent the Master, the Naga
Mucalinda is shown coiled round the footprints with his
hoods over his own form, represented in anthropomorphic
fashion in addition to the zoomorphic, in an attitude of
devotion with the hands brought together in anjali. This
incident is presented as effectively centuries later in the art
of Cambodia and Siam where the human figure of the
Master is seated with that enigmatic smile characteristic of
the wide-mouthed Khmer figures on the coils of the snake.
Another important incident from the Buddha’s life,
which has its earliest representation at Bharhut and which
is also a great favourite in Gupta and mediaeval sculpture, is
the descent of the Buddha from the TrayastrimSa heaven
after he had preached the Law to his mother. This is de­
picted in a variety of forms in Siam and is not known to
have occurred elsewhere in isolation. It is a suggestive
mode of representing the Buddha’s descent from heaven at
Sankasya. In Bharhut, where the physical form of the
Buddha is absent, this descent is depicted by a triple ladder
and the feet of the Buddha, one at the top and the other at
the bottom. In Gupta sculpture the Buddha flanked by
Brahma and Indra, the one holding a parasol and the other
a chauri, is shown with the steps of the ladder at his feet
and below him. In later mediaeval sculpture the ladder is
very often omitted by the sculptor altogether. The special
feature of this scene from Siam is that the sculptor has
chosen to represent suggestively the descent of the Buddha
as he traverses the sky to reach the earth. He is flanked
by the attendant figures but the ladder is shown in order
to suggest the sky. The sky no doubt could be represented
by the sun or moon, but since a circle or a wheel would
suggest the dharmacakra and create confusion by making it
appear as a scene of dharmacakra-pravartana. the eagle
has been chosen instead to suggest Visnupada, the sky. As
the word Visnupada means both the sky and the vehicle of
Visnu, the eagle has been chosen to suggest the sky. Like
the mahapurusa Tirtharikara wearing Siivatsa on the chest
in the manner of the Purusottama Visnu, the Buddha as
the mahapurusa is shown riding the vehicle of Visnu which
suggests Visnupada, the sky, whence he descended.
The greatest period of Buddhist art in Java was during
the time of the Sailendra kings, from the eighth to the tenth
century A.D. The great Sailendra monarchs were intensely
devoted to the Buddhist faith and were in active touch with
the Pala and Co|a kings in India. This Javanese influence is
obvious both at Nalanda and at Nagapattinam, and these
Javanese sculptures in their turn point to Indian origins.
The copper-plate grant of Devapala-deva shows the close
relationship between the Sailendra and the Pala empires
and in this is mentioned the important monasteries built by
Balaputra of Suvarna-dvipa in the 9th century A.D.
Rajaraja, the great Coja emperor who was a devotee of 5>iva,
but very tolerant in religious matters, was munificent in his
gifts to the Buddhist Cudamani Vihara in Nagapattinam
built by the Sailendra king. Maravijayottungavarman.
The Buddha flanked by the Bodhisattvas seen in the
temple at Chandi Mendut is probably the loveliest pro­
duced in Java. It is not dissimilar to the seated Buddha
found at Ajanta and elsewhere and closely follows its earlier
Gupta prototypes. The back of the simhasana on which he
is seated is characteristic of similar representations of the late
Gupta and early mediaeval periods in India. The Chandi
Mendut. though a small monument, has very interesting
carvings, some of them illustrations of well-known fables from
Indian collections. The stories of the talkative tortoise,
the monkey and the crocodile are portrayed with great
gusto. A fine representation of Hariti also comes from this
monument.
Close to it is the famous Borobudur stupa, which is a
marvel of architectural and sculptural beauty. Scenes from
the life of the Buddha, from the Jatakas and from the story
of Sudhana in quest of enlightenment are shown in the tiers
of this great monument.
The Buddha as he finally evolved into the Enlightened
One in the course of successive births is represented in his
well-known dhyana posture in rows of clearly perceptible
figures on the four sides of the stupa. These are only par­
tially visible in the lattice-walled miniature stupas arranged
in the higher tiers, and finally invisible in the crowning
stupa with no lattice work to reveal the figure inside. This
is symbolic of the transition from the gross and physical to
the subtle and the infinite, from sarupa to arupa.
The stupa of Borobudur is a monument of wonderful
grace and approximates to the srlcakra pattern in the
sarvatobhadra fashion with the central bindu in Meru form
at the top. The flights of steps leading up to the top on
the four sides face the cardinal points with makara balus­
trades and makara-mukha toranas at intervals. The
makaramukha with the caryatid figure below it occurs as
a gargoyle at several points and resembles its Indian proto­
type. The first of the covered row of carvings at the base
of this stupa shows scenes of torment in hell and the
fruits of good deeds in heaven based on the early Indian
concept of the life beyond. It has its Brahmanical proto­
type in the Yamapata of which there is a version at Angkor
Vat. How the Bodhisattva in the form of a tortoise
helped to save shipwrecked sailors by carrying them ashore,
how he was patience itself in spite of the provocation he
received in his life as a buffalo, how he preached to the
king the great Law even when he was born as a peacock are
among the stories graphically represented in exquisite sculp­
ture at Borobudur. The representation of a ship in sculpture
is nowhere more beautiful than at Borobudur.
In the narration of scenes from the Buddha’s life in the
Lalitavistara. the sculptor has created numerous master­
pieces in addition to portraying various aspects of Hindu
sa m sk a ra s; for instance, where a boy is put to school, the
mahasankalpa on the Sravana-paurnima day when he begins
his studies, which is still a living custom in India, has its
sculptural parallel carved over 1,200 years ago at Borobudur,
where a row of students are represented with their hands
clasped in sankalpa, while the guru utters the mantra.
Arghya, padya and acamaniya offered appropriately to
guests are splendidly delineated in the sculptural series.
The presentation of purna-kumbha to a mahapurusa, a
custom alive to this day in South India, has an early
parallel at Borobudur where the purna-kumbha is offered to
welcome the Buddha. The sprinkling of holy water by the
priest in asirvada which again is a living practice in India,
is presented in sculpture at Borobudur in several scenes, in­
cluding one of the marriage of prince Siddhartha and Gopa.
In a Jataka scene, which still awaits interpretation and
which may well be identified with the Mahasupina Jataka,
Brahmadatta, the king, is having his dreams interpreted by
brahmanas. They terrify him and suggest the performance
of a sacrifice, for which a host of animals and birds are
gathered, but a young pupil of the king’s chaplain questions
the propriety of this sacrifice. With the help of a Bodhisattva,
who according to this tale was born a brahmana. but
renounced the world to become a hermit, the king is admonish­
ed, the sacrifice averted and the animals freed. Here is a
graphic presentation of the rtvik priests assembled round the
fire on a sacrificial altar with all the animals and birds ready
for the sacrifice, which in a succeeding panel are released
after the admonition of the king by the Bodhisattva.
The flight of Vidyadharas on the clouds, the ovoid halos
of the divine figures, the pattern of ornamentation and
dress, the architectural details of temples and mandapas and
palaces in sculpture, the orchestra for music composed of a
variety of musical instruments, including the harp and the
guitar shaped vlna, the flute and drums of the urdhva, arikya
and alirigya. the dance poses in representations of dance
and music, the throne, the chariot, the palanquin, the
sword and shield, the variety of lamps and utensils used for
worship—all these motifs in Borobudur recall Indian proto­
types, particularly of the Pallava and Calukya type.
 A remarkable masterpiece of the twelfth or thirteenth
century A.D. is the famous Prajfiaparamita, now preserved
in the Leyden Museum. This image from Singasari is pro­
bably the best of this deity anywhere in the world. Of
other Buddhist figures in which Java abounds, there are
some in metal, particularly the one of Padmapiini in silver
at the Museum in Djakarta.
Buddhist art outside India has produced a magnificent
wealth of sculpture which includes many unique specimens
which have no parallel in India. The sculptor has often
displayed great vision and thought in producing these
masterpieces which compel the attention of scholars and
connoisseurs of art all over the world.
 Places o f Buddhist Interest
A. I n N o r t h e r n I ndia
Gautama Buddha has left his footprint on the soil of
India and his mark on the soul of mankind. This human
teacher eclipsed even the heavenly gods and the places
consecrated by his presence were held in great veneration.
Before his parinirvana, the Buddha spoke of the four places
which a pious believer should visit with faith and reverence.
They are the Lumbini-vana where the Tathagata was born;
Gaya (Bodh Gaya) where he attained bodhi (enlighten*
ment); the Deer Park at Isipatana (Sarnath) where he pro­
claimed the Law for the first time; and Ku£inagara where
he reached the unconditioned state of nirvana.
In the Buddhist sacred lore there are four other places
which with the above four make up the afthamahathanani
(astamahasthanani) or eight sanctified spots. They were the
scenes of four of the principal miracles that the Blessed
One was said to have performed. At Sravasti, the capital
of KoSala, the Btiddha gave a display of his miraculous
powers to confound the leader of the Tlrthika sect. Next,
in accordance with the practice of the previous Buddhas,
he ascended the heaven of the thirty-three gods, preached
the Abhidhamma to his deceased mother and descended to
earth at Sarikasya. Rajagrha, the capital of Magadha, was the
scene of another miracle in which he tamed the mad ele­
phant, Nalagiri, that had been let loose by his jealous
cousin, Devadatta. In a mango grove at Vaisali, a number
of monkeys offered him a bowl of honey. The famous
cities in India at that time were thus hallowed by their
association with the Buddha’s religion.
These holy places became centres of great attraction for the
pious believers and pilgrimages were religiously undertaken
to these places. Asoka calls such pilgrimages dhammayata
(dharmayatra), or tours of piety. Many other places, too,
rose into prominence as the influence of Buddhism spread.
The places of Buddhist significance are many in the land
of Gautama Buddha and in their flourishing days their sanc­
tity, no less than their splendour and magnificence, attracted
visitors from far and wide.

Lumbinl
Among the sacred places of Buddhism, Lumbini where
the Blessed One was born must inevitably come first. It
has been identified with the site of Rummindei, in the
Nepalese Terai. As the birth-place of the Buddha, the
site grew in sanctity and importance. Many are the estab­
lishments that rose on the site. Very few, however, are
now in existence. Of course, there still stands at the site
a pillar engraved with an inscription commemorating the
great Anoka’s pilgrimage to this place in the twentieth year
after his consecration. “Here the Buddha was born”, says
the emperor, and this statement proves the identity of the
sanctified spot beyond any doubt. Apart from the pillar,
there is an ancient shrine with an image representing the
nativity of the Lord as described in the sacred texts.

Bodh Gaya
Bodh Gaya where the Buddha attained supreme wisdom
(bodhi) lies six miles to the south of Gaya, a place of
Hindu pilgrimage. To the devout Buddhist there is no
place of greater interest or sanctity than the holy spot of
the Buddha's enlightenment.1 Sacred shrines and stately

1. Several interesting inscriptions have been discovered a t this site,

according to which Ceylonese, Burmese and Chinese people visited this place
of pilgrimage. Two Ceylonese inscriptions in Sanskrit tell us about one
[Continued on next page
 monuments were raised all around and the account of the
Chinese pilgrim. Yuan Chwang, gives us a glimpse of the
past splendour of this sanctified site.
Yuan Chwang ascribes the erection of the original
fiodhi shrine to Emperor Atoka. According to one of his
rock edicts, Atoka visited this place, which is called
Sambodhi in the inscription, when he had been consecrated
ten years, and it is more than probable that the great em­
peror constructed a shrine on this holy spot. No vestiges
of such a shrine can, however, be found at present. Scholars
are of the opinion that the Bodhi shrine carved in a Bharhut
relief (circa 2nd century B.C.) might represent the one erected
by Asoka. It seems to have consisted of a balustraded gal­
lery enclosing the Bodhi tree, preceded by a column of the
type on which Atoka’s edicts are carved. The original
balustrades seem to have been of wooden construction,
which was later translated into stone. The stately struc­
ture, which we see nowadays, is a later erection. This
temple has been restored and renovated many times. From
the description of Yuan Chwang it appears that the temple,
essentially in its present shape and appearance, existed
already in the seventh century A.D. The Mahabodhi
temple in Burma is a prototype of this grand temple.
As it now stands, the Mahabodhi temple at Bodh Gaya
is approximately 160 feet high and consists of a straight
pyramidal tower surmounted by a stupa, complete with the
harmika and the hti with a fluted amalaka-like lower mem­
ber. The tower has angle amalakas at the corners, demar-
M ahanama (II) of Ceylon, who offered an image of the B uddha and con­
structed a palatial building (pr&a&da) a t this place. Burmese inscriptions in
corrupt Sanskrit (in K agan characters) and in Burmese tell us of repairs and
offerings to th e shrine m ade on behalf of B urm a from tim e to time.
The two Chinese inscriptions (10-11th centuries A.D.) are w ritten by Chinese
pilgrims. One of them mentions th e names of several Chinese pilgrims who
visited the place, along with its author, Che-Yi, and who had taken a vow to
do such meritorious deeds as would lead to their b irth in th e T usita heaven.
The second, w ritten by K ’oyun (and n o t by Yu-shu, for which see Sino-Indian
Studies, Vol. I, P a rt II , p. 114), is a eulogy of the three kayas of the Buddha*
namely, N irm aiia-kaya Sambhoga-kaya and D harm a-kaya.
 eating its different stages. The entrance porch, evidently
later than the original temple, is on the east. Each of the
four sides of the tower presents several tiers of niches, while
the front face has a tall lancet opening for the admission of
light into the sanctum. At the base of the tower there
rises a turret at each of the four corners, a miniature replica
of the main spire.
The temple enshrines a great gilded figure of the
Blessed One touching the earth which symbolizes the supreme
event of enlightenment. Along the northern side of the
temple, there is a narrow masonry platform raised about
four feet above the ground. This is known as the “jewel
shrine of the walk” or the Buddha's Promenade (cankama),
where after attaining enlightenment the Great Teacher is
said to have spent a week walking to and fro in deep medita­
tion. At the points where he set his feet, there are sculptur­
ed ornaments representing the miraculous blossoms which
are said to have sprung up in his footsteps. Passing along
this promenade and to the west of the temple stands the
Bodhi tree and the holy spot of enlightenment, now marked
by a red sandstone slab, representing the Vajrasana on which
the Master is said to have reached Perfect Wisdom. The
original Mahabodhi shrine, as represented in the early re­
liefs, is portrayed as enclosing this holy spot including the
Bodhi tree. The idea of erecting a temple with a lofty
conical tower necessitated its erection a little to the east
of this holy spot so that the holy spot and the Bodhi tree
now stand at the back of the temple.
Around the temple lie innumerable remains of which
the most important are portions of the stone railing which
represent two different periods of construction, the earlier
going back to about the 2nd century B.C. and the latter to
the early Gupta period. Interesting carvings are still to be
seen on these rail posts, and of these the figure of Indra as
Santi, and that of Surya, the Sun god. drawn by a four-
horsed chariot, are noteworthy. Beautiful sculptures and
richly decorated votive stupas, scattered all round, still con-
tinue to attract the admiring gaze of pilgrims and visitors.
The residence of the Mahanta. who was for a long time
in charge of the temple precincts, is close to the great temple
and, like the sculpture shed nearby, is a store-house of fine
sculptures and other relics which once embellished this
holy spot. In the immediate vicinity are situated seven
sacred sites, which, according to tradition, were identical
with those where the Lord is said to have passed seven
tranquil weeks in the enjoyment of his Buddhahood.

Sarnath
Sarnath marks the birth of the religion of Gautama
Buddha. Hence it became a great centre of Buddhist acti­
vities and remained so for more than a millennium and a
half. The inscriptions refer to the site as the “Monastery
of the Turning of the Wheel of Righteousness” (Saddharma-
cakra-pravartana vihara) by which name this sacred place
was known to ancient Buddhist writers. Though very little
is known of the history of the Deer Park during the early
centuries of Buddhism, the place acquired celebrity, like the
other holy places of Buddhism, from the time of Asoka.
This saintly monarch erected a series of monuments, includ­
ing a pillar inscribed with an edict warning the resident
monks and nuns against creating schisms in the church. The
Chinese pilgrims, Fa-hien and Yuan Chwang, visited the
place in the 5th and 7th centuries A.D. respectively, and left
us valuable information regarding this important site. In
later periods also, the site grew in size and prosperity and
inscriptions and other evidence relate to the. building of new
shrines and edifices, as well as to the renovation of old ones,
one of the latest being the Temple of the Wheel of the Law
founded by Kumaradevi. one of the queens of King Govinda-
candra of Kanauj, in the first half of the 12th century A.D.
Soon after, the place was destroyed, presumably by the armies
of Muhammad Ghori., There is evidence of earlier vandalism,
once probably by the Hunas and later during the sacking of
Banaras by Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni. Such damage,
Main Stupa. Sanchi, 3rd century B.C.—1st century B.C. (Courtesy, Departm ent
of A rchaeology, G overnm ent of India)
however, was immediately repaired by pious devotees, but
this final catastrophe brought waste and desolation to the
prosperous establishments.
The ruins of Sarnath cover an extensive area. The
Archaeological Department has done a good deal of excava­
tion at the site and a number of interesting monuments and
sculptures of exquisite beauty and workmanship have come
to light. As one approaches the site from Banaras, the first
landmark that attracts the eye is a lofty mound of brick­
work, locally known as the Chaukhandi, surmounted by an
octagonal tower at the top. The mound represents the ruins
of a stupa on a terraced basement erected to mark the spot
where the Buddha, on his way from Gaya to Isipatana, first
met his five former comrades who were soon to become
converts to his Faith.
Half a mile to the north is the site of the Deer Park, which
must have had imposing buildings in the days of its pristine
greatness. All is now in ruins, save a battered structure, the
Dhamekh stupa, which rears its head to a height of nearly
150 feet above the surrounding country. The ruins have been
laid bare by the spade of the archsologists and the site, as
exposed, shows that temples and stupas occupied the central
position with monasteries in the area around them. They
belong to different periods of construction, the earliest going
back to the days of Asoka. Traces of successive restorations
and renovations are also evident in some of the important
buildings.
The Asoka stupa, seen by Yuan Chwang, has been identi­
fied with the ruins of a large brick stupa, commonly known
as Jagat Singh’s stupa after Jagat Singh, the Diwan of Raja
Chait Singh of Banaras. He dismantled it in 1794 for bricks
for the construction of a market in Banaras. The site of
this stupa probably marks the spot where the Buddha deli­
vered his first discourse and thus literally turned the Wheel
of the Law. A little farther to the north stands the broken
stump of the Asoka pillar, the magnificent Lion Capital of
which may now be seen in the Archaeological Museum
 nearby. On the east may be seen the ruins of a temple,
designated the main shrine, which must date from the Gupta
period, if not earlier.
Around the main shrine there is a paved court with a
similar approach from the east. In this court are found
innumerable remains of stupas of various shapes and some­
times also of shrines, the remnants of pious benefactions of
votaries and pilgrims who flocked to this holy spot. On the
north and south were ranged monastic establishments.
Among the ruins at Sarnath, the most imposing is no
doubt the Dhamekh stupa situated at the south-east corner
of the site. Battered though it is, it still stands 143 ft. high
from its original foundations. Indeed, it is a solid structure,
built of massive blocks of stone at the lower stage and of
brick, probably faced with stone, at the upper. It is of
cylindrical shape and is relieved in the lower section by eight
projecting bays, each with a large niche originally containing
an image. This lower section has a broad belt of carved orna­
mentation of intricate geometric pattern with floral arabes­
ques above and below it. The modern name, Dhamekh, is
probably derived from the Sanskrit dharmeksa, meaning “the
pondering of the Law”, and since it is in a line with the Dhar-
marajika stupa of Asoka which stands due west of it. it
must have been an important, monument. The original
structure on this spot also possibly dated from the days of
Asoka.
Apart from the ruins and relics of the past, a place of
modern interest is furnished by the Mulagandhakuti Vihara,
erected by the Mahabodhi Society where are enshrined cer­
tain Buddhist relics discovered at Taksasila <Taxila), Nagar­
junakonda and Mirpur-khas in Sindh.
The antiquities so far discovered in the ruins are
numerous and consist of sculptures, bas-reliefs, rail frag­
ments, terra cotta figurines, seals and sealings, inscriptions,
pottery vessels, and various other objects. With very few
exceptions, they pertain to the Buddhist religion and cover
a period of approximately 1.500 years, from the 3rd century
B.C. to the 12th century A.D. They have been housed in a
neat little Museum and a sculpture shed, situated near the
ruins, which well repays a visit. The Lion Capital, ori­
ginally surmounting the ASoka pillar, now occupies a place
of honour in the Museum. It consists of four addorsed
lions, supported on an abacus over a bell-shaped lower mem­
ber. The capital was originally crowned by a wheel, the
fragments of which have been recovered from the ruins.
Symbolical of India’s message of peace and goodwill to the
world, the capital now forms the crest of resurgent India.
One of the foremost of the sculptures in the Museum is
the famous sandstone image of the Master in the act of setting
the wheel of the Law in motion <dharmacakra-pravartana-
mudra), which is a masterpiece of Indian plastic art.

Kusinagara
KuSinagara or Kusinira is sacred to Buddhists as it was
the place where under a grove of sal trees the Lord passed
into nirvana in his eightieth year. The site has been identified
with Kasia in the Gorakhpur district of Uttar Pradesh.
Like the other sacred places connected with the eventful
life of the Master, Kusinara rose to be an important place
of pilgrimage and in the course of time was covered with
sacred shrines and monasteries. For reasons unknown, how­
ever, the place was deserted early in its history, and both
Fa-hien and Yuan Chwang note the utter ruin and desolation
of this once important site. The remains that have been par­
tially laid bare by excavations are extremely fragmentary, but
the identity of the place with the site of the parinirvana is
settled beyond doubt by the discovery of inscriptions refer­
ring to the Parinirvana Caitya. The stOpa of parinirvana
which Atoka is said to have built has not yet been brought
to light. The Parinirvana Caitya to which the inscriptions
refer dates from the Gupta period and it is possible that the
Asoka stQpa lies buried under the later construction.
Among the other sacred edifices that still remain may be
mentioned the Matha Kunwar ka Kot which enshrines a
 large recumbent figure of the Buddha in the state of nirvana.
The image was found in fragments and has been skilfully
restored by Mr. Carlleyle. The great stupa which stood on
the spot where the body of the Lord was cremated and
where the relics of the Master were divided into eight equal
portions is probably represented by a large mound locally
known as Ramabhar. This mound has only been partially
examined and a more systematic exploration is expected to
bring to light important material relating to the history of this
venerable spot.
/
Srdvasti
/
Sravasti (modern Saheth-Maheth in UP.), the capital of
the ancient kingdom of Kosala, was sacred to the Buddhists,
because it was here that the Master, in accordance with the
practice of the previous Buddhas, performed the greatest of
his miracles. It was here that the Buddha had to take part
in a contest of miraculous feats with the Tirthikas before
King Prasenajit of Kosala and the assembled audience. The
Buddha took his seat on a thousand petalled lotus and creat­
ed multiple representations of himself which went up to the
highest heaven. The heretical teachers discomfited at this
miraculous event dared not show their own feats and were
finally confounded by a violent thunderstorm and obliged
to run away. The supreme position of the Master was thus
vindicated and he preached the Law before a huge assemblage
of people that had come to witness the miracle. The
Sravasti episode has been a favourite theme in Buddhist art
from very early times.
Even from the days of the Buddha, Sravasti was an active
centre of Buddhism and it was here that the merchant Ana-
thapindika built, in the garden of Prince Jeta purchased at
a fabulous price in gold, a large monastery for the reception
of the Master. The story of its purchase and its eventual
presentation to the Lord was a favourite theme in early Bud­
dhist art. In later times also shrines and monasteries arose
on this sacred spot which continued to be a flourishing centre
of the Buddhist faith for a long time.
Saheth-Maheth consists of two distinct sites. The larger
one, Maheth, spreads over about 400 acres and has been iden­
tified with the remains of the city proper. Saheth, covering
about 32 acres and lying about a quarter of a mile to the
south-west, is the site of the Jetavana monastery. The exca­
vations on the former site have laid bare the remains of the
massive gates of the city and the ruins of other structures,
indicating the prosperous state of the city in days gone by.
The latter, sanctified by the Master’s association, rose to be
an important place of pilgrimage and numerous shrines,
stQpas and monasteries were built in it. The remains so far
brought to light date approximately from the Mauryan epoch
down to the decadent days of Buddhism in the 12th century
A.D. One of the earliest stupas, the original foundation of
which may go back to the 3rd century B.C., if not earlier,
contained some bone relics, probably those of the Master
himself. A colossal statue of the Master was found at the
site. One of the latest patrons of the establishment was
Kumaradevi, the queen of Govindacandra, the Gadhavala
king of Kanauj, who donated some land for the maintenance
of the Jetavana monastery in the year 1128-29 A.D. Bud­
dhism was already on the decline and the prosperity of this
site finally ended with the Islamic occupation of the land.

Sankdsya
Another holy spot connected with the life of the Master
was Sankasya (Sanki£a-Basantapur, Etah district, Uttar Pra­
desh) where the Buddha is said to have descended to earth
from the TrayastrimSa heaven (Heaven of the Thirty-three
Gods) where he went to preach the Abhidharma to his
mother and. other gods. This event is said to have occurred
after the Great Miracle was performed at Sravasti, as it was
an immutable law that all Buddhas should resort to the
Heaven of the Thirty-three Gods after they had performed
their greatest miracles. According to Buddhist legend, the
Lord came down by a triple ladder, accompanied by the
gods, Brahma and Sakra. and the incident forms a favourite
motif in Buddhist art. Owing to this sacred association,
Sanka.fya came to be an important place of pilgrimage, and
important shrines, stupas and monasteries were raised on the
site in the heyday of Buddhism.
Both Fa-hien and Yuan Chwang visited the place and left
interesting accounts of the important monuments. Through
long neglect, however, all is now in crumbling ruins. The
accounts of the Chinese pilgrims also are too meagre to
admit of any proper identification of the remains extant. The
present village is perched on a mound, locally known as the
fort, 41 feet high and with an area, 1,500 feet by 1,000. A
quarter of a*^nile to the south is another mound, composed
of solid brickwork and surmounted by a temple dedicated to
Bisari Devi. Other mounds containing masses of brickwork
may be seen scattered around and there are also the remains
of an earthen rampart over 3^ miles in circumference. The
trial diggings, undertaken long ago by Cunningham, indicate
the extremely fragmentary nature of the remains and of the
urgent necessity of more systematic explorations. The Ele­
phant Capital that once surmounted a column is an important
relic of the days of Asoka and further explorations are
expected to lay bare important material which has relevance
to the history of this site.

Rajagrha
Rajagrha, (modern Rajgir in the Patna district of Bihar),
the capital of the powerful state of Magadha, was sacred to
the Buddhists for more than one reason. Not only did the
Master go into a retreat several times in this famous city,
but it was also the place where Devadatta. his wicked cousin,
made several attempts on his life. Moreover, in this city,
in the Sattapanni (Saptapami) cave of the Vaibhara hill, was
held the first Buddhist Council (Sariglti) just after the
parinirvana.
The remains of the ancient city are few and far between.
The site appears to have suffered much at the hands of
 time. The ruins indicate that the followers of different reli­
gious denominations live here. The Buddhist remains, ex­
cept for stray and isolated images, are scanty, and it is not
impossible that the visible monuments were denuded partly
through religious animosities. Even the identification of the
Sattapaqi?i cave, the site of the first Council, is not beyond
doubt. According to the canonical texts, the cave was
situated on the northern fringe of the Vaibhara hill and Stein
may be right when he identifies the site with the large terrace
with a group of cells at the back in a semi-circular bend of
the rock on the northern scarp. A remarkable structure,
known as Jaiasandha ki Baithak, on the eastern slope of the
Vaibhara hill, with irregular cells at the sides has been
identified by some with the residence of Pippala. Some of
the Pali texts describes the Pippala cave as the residence of
M ahakasyapa, the organizer of the First Council. From
the cyclopaean masonry, analogous to that of the city wails
and its bastioned gateways, this erection appears, however,
to be more military than secular or religious in character.
A mound to the west of the citadel is usually connected with
a stupa, which, according to Fa-hien, was built by Ajatasatru,
and by Asoka according to Yuan Chwang. Trial d ig g in g s
on this mound have exposed several strata, none of which,
however, can be traced back to the pre-Christian epoch. The
cave, called the Sonbhandar, on the southern scrap of the
Vaibhara hill might have been a Buddhist excavation, though
the possibility of its having been a Jaina establishment can­
not altogether be ruled out. The GrdhrakOta mountain,
which was a favourite resort of the Buddha, is not far from
the city.
Rajagrha was also an active centre of Jainism in ancient
times, as it is now, and interesting remains of Jaina shrines
and sculptures are still extant. A singular monument may
be recognized in the cylindrical brick shrine, almost at the
centre of the old city. It is known as M aniyar M atha, and
was dedicated, according to local tradition, to the worship
of Mani-naga, the guardian deity of the city of Rajagrha.
Vaisali
The city of Vaisali (Basarh in the Muzaffarpur district of
Bihar), the capital of the powerful Licchavi clan, was a
stronghold of Buddhism in the early days. Gautama
Buddha is said to have visited it three times during his life­
time. In one of these visits several monkeys are said to
have offered the Lord a bowl of honey, an incident men­
tioned among the eight great events in the life of the
Master. It was here again that the Buddha announced his
approaching nirvana, and after the nirvana the Licchavis
are said to have erected a stupa over their share of the re­
mains of the Master. A little over a hundred years after
the nirvana, the Second Buddhist Council was held here.
To the Jainas also, Vaisali was equally sacred, being the
birth-place of Mahavira, the twenty-fourth Jaina Tfrthankara.
The site of Raja Bisal ka Gadh is believed to represent
the citadel of Vaisali. It consists of a large brick-covered
mound, about 8 feet above the surrounding level and slightly
less than a mile in circumference. Originally surrounded by
a ditch, it was approached by a broad embanked causeway
from the south. Trial diggings have exposed the foundations
of old buildings of irregular plan which may date back to
the Gupta period. All these buildings were of a purely
secular character. The most interesting finds consist of a
large number of clay seals, official and private, the latter
bearing the names of individuals or guilds of merchants,
bankers and traders. The official seals indicate that Vaisali
was an important administrative headquarters in the Gupta
period, and an interesting seal, engraved in characters of the
Maurya period, refers lo the patrol outpost at Vaisali.
The Chinese pilgrims. Fa-hien and Yuan Chwang, visit­
ed Vaisali in the course of their travels. The latter described
the city as covering an area of 10 to 12 square miles. He
wrote that, within and without and all around the town of
Vaisali. the sacred monuments were so numerous that it was
difficult to mention them all. Unfortunately, the area is now
practically denuded of any visible remains of religious edifices.
 At Kolhua, two miles to the north-west of Raja BisSl
ka Gadh. there stands a monolithic pillar (locally known as
Bhimsen’s Lath) of highly polished sandstone surmounted by
a bell-shaped capital that supports the sedent figure of a lion
on a square abacus. It is about 22 feet above the present
ground level, a considerable portion having sunk under­
ground in the course of time. In style it resembles the edict
pillars of Atoka, but diggings round the shaft have failed to
reveal any Atokan inscription. Nevertheless, it can be
identified with one of the Atoka pillars mentioned by Yuan
Chwang at the site of ancient Vaisali. The line of pillars
in the Champaran and Muzaffarpur districts—at Ramapurva,
Lauriya Araraj, Lauriya Nandangadh, and Kolhua—is be­
lieved to have marked the stages of a royal journey from
Pataliputra to Lumbini which Asoka undertook in the 20th
year of his consecration. Nearby to the south, there is a
small tank, called Rama-kunda. identified by Cunningham
with the ancient Markata-hrada (monkey’s tank), believed to
have been dug by a colony of monkeys for the use of the
Buddha. To the north-west there is a ruined mound, at
present only 15 feet high and with a diameter of about
65 feet at the base, which has been identified with the
remains of the Asoka stupa mentioned by Yuan Chwang.
On the summit of this mound stands a modern brick temple
enshrining a medieval image of the Buddha.
It will not be out of place to recount also a few other
memorable sites of Buddhism, the sites of sacred shrines,
stupas and monasteries. In the course of the spread of
Buddhism in India, such sites, though not particularly
associated with the life and legend of the Buddha, rose into
prominence on account of the imposing monuments that
were raised in and around them. Of these, Sanchi in the
former Bhopal State is important as the site of one of the
earliest of the stupas, which later grew into an important
centre of Buddhist monuments. Tak$asila, (modern Taxila).
now in West Pakistan, also rose to be a very prominent site
in the early days. KauSSmbi, the capital city of the Vatsa
kingdom, was an early centre of Buddhism, and it was here
that the famous Ghositarama Vihara stood. The remains of
this monastery have been laid bare in the recent excavation
of Kosava, the site of ancient Kau£ambi, while in the medie­
val period the Nalanda monasteries in Bihar were famous
throughout the Buddhist world of that time. In the days
when Buddhism flourished, many other sites, too, became
important sites of the good faith (Saddharma).

Sanchi
Sanchi (549 miles from Bombay) is the site of the most
extensive Buddhist remains now known in India. The site
had no apparent connection with the traditional history
of Gautama Buddha; the place is scarcely mentioned in
Buddhist literature. Even the itineraries of the Chinese
pilgrims, which are a mine of information about the other
ancient centres of Buddhism, do not refer to this site at all.
It is surprising therefore that the monuments at Sanchi should
now form the most magnificent and perfect examples
of early Buddhist art in India. There seems to be consider­
able force in the view that Sanchi is the modern representative
of Cetiyagiri of the Ceylonese Chronicles, which was situated
in the neighbourhood of Vidisa. It is connected with the
story of Atoka’s marriage with a merchant’s daughter and the
erection of a monastery on the hill where Mahendra, Atoka’s
son by that marriage, is said to have halted on the way to
his proselytizing mission in Ceylon. Whether the story is
true or not, the fact remains that the earliest monuments at
Sanchi date from the time of Asoka and it is not impossible
that it was the patronage of this Constantine of Buddhism
which made the place an active centre of the religion of
Gautama Buddha and was responsible for the splendour of
the site in days gone by.
Most of the monuments are situated on a plateau on the
hill top which was enclosed by a wall of solid stone about
1100 A.D. Of the stupas, there are many dating from the
3rd century B.C. They vary in size ranging from the
 Great Stupa that measures 100 feet in diameter at the base
and has a vast, imposing dome nearly 50 feet high to minia­
ture ones no more than a foot high.
Originally built of brick in the time of Asoka, the Great
Stupa was enlarged to nearly twice its previous size, and
faced with stone, perhaps a century later, when the massive
balustrade and the four imposing gateways were added.
These gateways (toranas) on the four cardinal faces consti­
tute, with their richly carved decorations, a most striking
contrast with the simplicity of the structure behind. All the
four gateways are of similar design, and the technique em­
ployed in their construction shows that they were more the
work of carpenters than of stonemasons. The gateways, with
columns and superstructures, are richly carved with bas-
reliefs illustrating the Jataka tales, scenes in the life of the
Master, and important events in the subsequent history of
the Faith. Reference may be made to one singular relief
panel in an architrave of one of the gateways which repre­
sents the visit of Asoka to the Bodhi tree at Bodh Gaya.
The greatest patron of Buddhism has not been portrayed in
any other monument in India. This portrait of the Emperor
may not be authentic, but this unique representation of one
of the greatest figures of Indian history must be cherished by
all his countrymen.
Of the many other stupas on this site, three are specially
noteworthy. One of these, stupa No. 3, is to the north-east
of the Great Stupa and although smaller is of almost identi­
cal design. In the relic chamber of this stupa. General
Cunningham discovered the relics of Sariputta and
Mahamoggallana. two of the famous disciples of the Lord,
which were recently brought back from London for con­
secration in a new shrine at Sanchi. Another small stupa,
near the foot of the hill on the western side, enshrined the
relics of Ka^yapa and Moggaliputta, well-known Buddhist
apostles of the 3rd century B.C.
In the surrounding region, groups of stupas lie scattered
and of these a few have proved to be of particular sanctity
on account of the relics enshrined in them.
Of more historical value are the battered remains
of the Asoka pillar, with its capital of four lions back to
back. It is situated close to the south gate of the Great
Stupa at Sanchi. On its broken stump one can still see the
edict in which the Emperor forbids in strong terms any
schism in the Church. Its lustrous polish, its design and
style place it with similar edict pillars of Asoka.
The chief fascination of Sanchi no doubt rests on these
grand old stupas, not only on account of their sanctity but
also because of their rich and elaborate carvings. This
fascination is further enhanced by the shrines and monas­
teries that cluster around them and give a vivid picture of
monastic life on this peaceful hill top. Among these, the
most noteworthy is the Caitya Hall (Temple No. 18), situated
directly opposite the south gateway of the Great Stupa, and
is especially interesting as one of the few examples of this
kind of structural edifice.
Another structure recalling the classic temples of Greece
may be seen in a tiny and unpretentious shrine (Temple
No. 17), consisting of nothing more than a simple flat-roofed
square chamber with a pillared portico in front. Though
modest in dimensions, its structural propriety, symmetry and
proportions, appreciation for plane surfaces and restraint in
ornament may very well compare with the best architectural
creations of classical Greece.
Of the monasteries at Sanchi. there are five examples and
they date from the 4th to the 12th century A.D. The
earlier ones, once occupying the site, were built of wood
and have perished or been buried under the foundations of
later structures. Those that have survived, or are now
exposed to view, are built more or less on the usual plan
of an open quadrangular court surrounded by ranges of
two-storeyed apartments.
The incomparable monuments of Sanchi were rescued
from centuries of oblivion as early as 1818 and a host of
scholars and archaeologists have tried to resuscitate this
memorable site of the past. The major part of the explora­
tion and restoration work goes to the credit of Sir John
Marshall, a former Director General of Archaeology in
India, who has not only excavated the numerous remains,
but also recreated the structures.

Nalanda
The far-famed monastic establishments at Nalanda
<Bargaon near Rajgir) were of supreme importance in the
history of latter-day Buddhism. According to tradition,
the place was visited several times by the Buddha and the
history of the monastic establishments can be traced back to
the days of Asoka. But excavations have not yet revealed
any proof that it was occupied prior to the time of the
Guptas; and inscriptions, seals and other remains, coupled
with references in literature provide a glimpse of the flourish­
ing state of this famous monastic site from the 5th to the end
of the 12th century A.D. It was at this monastery that the
celebrated Chinese pilgrim. Yuan Chwang, stayed for some
time. He gives a detailed and graphic account of the
different establishments with as many as 10,000 inmates,
their rules and practices. He also mentions Harsa and
several of his predecessors as beneficent patrons of this
institution. 1-tsing, another Chinese traveller, has also left
us a picture of the life led by the Nalanda monks, who
were maintained by 200 villages donated by different kings.
Nalanda was known throughout the Buddhist world of that
time
—
for its
/r
learned and
/
versatile teachers, and the Tnames of
Acarya Siiabhadra, Santaraksita. and Atisa or Dipankara.
shining luminaries among a galaxy of many others, conjure
up a vision of the supreme eminence of the Nalanda Maha-
vihara throughout its prosperous history.
The ruins of Nalanda extend over a large area. The
structures exposed to view represent only a part of the
extensive establishment and consist of monastic sites, stupa
sites and temple sites. Lengthwise they extend from south
to north, the monasteries on the eastern flank and the stflpas
 and the temples on the west. The monasteries were all
built on more or less the same plan in each case, with rows
of cells preceded by a corridor round a central courtyard
and a shrine against the back wall, opposite the entrance.
Different strata, accumulated one above the other, are clearly
seen and indicate successive repairs and renovations. There
is also evidence that these monasteries were storeyed struc­
tures; and they convey, even in their ruins, a memory of
their imposing and glorious past.
StOpa site No. 3 represents a huge structure standing in
the middle of a court on the south-western flank, surrounded
by a number of votive stOpas.
To the north of this stupa and in the same alignment,
there have been exposed structures each of which consists
of a temple erected directly over the remains of an earlier
one.
In the Museum nearby are deposited numerous sculp­
tures and other antiquities recovered during the excavations,
and these, by their great variety and fine workmanship, are
most impressive.
The wealth of epigraphic material is no less telling. It
includes copper-plate and stone inscriptions and inscriptions
on bricks and terra-cotta seals. Among the latter, we have
the official seal belonging to the community of venerable
monks of the great monastery.
The Buddhism that was practised at Nalanda and other
contemporary institutions in Bengal and Bihar was no
longer the simple Hinayana; nor was it the M ahayana of the
early days. It was strongly imbued with ideas of Tantrism
not far removed from Tantric Brahmanism. The Muslim
invasion dealt a death blow to these cloistered strongholds
and the flickering remains of the religion of Gautama
Buddha, which had been so transformed as to have been
absorbed, almost unawares, into modern Hinduism.

B. I n W e s t e r n I n d ia

It cannot be said with certainty when Buddhism spread

to Saurashtra. However, there seems to be no reason to
suppose that any iofm of Buddhism existed in the province
before Asoka sent his missionaries to propagate it. He had
one of his edicts incised on a rock at the foot of Mount
Girnar near Junagadh in the heart of the province.
Buddhism soon spread in the province as a result of his
activities and several Buddhist caves have been excavated
in the southern and south-eastern parts of Saurashtra. From
their extremely simple architecture and from the general
absence of sculpture, it would seem that they belonged
to a very early period, probably the second century B.C., if
not earlier.

Junagadh
Junagadh, the capital of the province, which owing to
the presence of the Asoka edict had already become famous
among Buddhists, became a centre of attraction for them.
In the vicinity of Girnar Hills, we find now on a huge rock
the full text of what are known as the Fourteen Rock Edicts.
The text inscribed in Brahmi characters on this rock is
remarkably well preserved. Naturally, the most important
of the caves excavated in Saurashtra are in and around
Junagadh. They must have been very numerous and
continued to be important at least up to the middle
of the seventh century, for while visiting Junagadh,
Yuan Chwang had noticed at least fifty convents
with at least three thousand monks of the Sthavira sect.
These caves fall into _three groups, namely, those in
Junagadh proper, those in Uparkot and those called Khapra-
khodia, close to the town. The caves at Junagadh have
two to three storeys and have been excavated in three stages.
Two of them measure ,,28'x 16' and 2 6 'x20'. Among the
caves in Uparkot, which was the citadel of the old city, the
caitya windows, the deep tanks, measuring seventeen feet
square, and the two wells, popularly called Adiodi-vav and
Navaghan-vav, are the most interesting. One of the three
Khaprakhodia caves, locally known as Khanjar-mahal,
measures 250' x 80/. The other is 38' square, and the third
measures 61' x 60'. The second and the third caves have
four and sixteen heavy pillars respectively. No inscription
has been found in any of the caves.
One can imagine from the evidence on the spot that in
early times large monasteries must have existed at Junagadh
and mount Girnar. The remains of two brick-built stupas
have recently been exposed at Intwa on a hill about three
miles away from Asoka’s edict. The only inscribed object
found there is a baked clay seal belonging to a bhiksu-
sangha which resided in the vihara of Maharaja Rudrasena.
This king was most probably Rudrasena I of the Ksatrapa
family who ruled from 199 to 222 A.D.
Besides Junagadh, many places have become important
in Saurashtra owing to the Buddhist caves found there.

Dhdnk
Dhank is thirty miles north-west of Junagadh and seven
miles south-east of Porbandar. Here, four plain caves are
preserved, the rest having been destroyed through decay in
the soft rock. However, the octagonal pillars with their
square bases and capitals still stand. There are also to be
found some rude mythological sculptures of a later date,
besides a well called after Manjusri.

Siddhasar
A few miles lo the west of Dhank is Siddhasar where
there are a n u m b e r of caves situated in a ravine called
Jhinghar Jhu.

Talaja
Besides Junagadh. Tajaja. thirty.miles south of Bhava-
nagar near the mouth of the Satrunjaya river, also seems to
have been a great Buddhist centre. There are 36 caves and
a tank measuring IS' x 20' One of the largest of the
caves is locally known as the Ebhal-mandap and is 75' x 61Y
and 17^' high. It had four octagonal pillars but no cells.
One of the caves had a dagoba. The simplicity of the
arrangement and the complete absence of sculptures in the
caves show that they belonged to an early date, probably
only a little later than the reign of Aioka.

Sandh
The caves at SanSh, which is to the south-west of Tajaja
and sixteen miles north of Una, are important. Both sides
of the hill are honeycombed with more than 62 caves.
They are of a plain type and well supplied with tanks for
water. The largest of them is locally known as Ebhal-
mandap and measures 68^' x 61' x 16^'. It has six
pillars in front but none inside. Although the caves in
Saurashtra are among the most ancient, they do not
possess the interest that attaches to many of the same
period found elsewhere. Among the numerous caves there
is not a single caitya cave which can be compared with the
caves of this class in other parts of the country. The
viharas, too, are very simple and do not show any im­
portant architectural features.
ValabhJ
From the sixth century A.D., Buddhist activities in
Saurashtra seem to have centered in a new place called
Valabhi, twenty-two miles to the north-west of Bhavanagar.
It acquired great importance as a place of Buddhist interest
and Yuan Chwang spoke of it in glowing terms when he
visited it in 640 A.D. According to him, there were one
hundred convents where six thousand devotees of the
Sammitiya school resided. In those days, ValabhT was
considered to be next in importance to Nalanda as a centre
of Buddhist learning, and became the home of the re*
nowned Buddhist scholars, Sthiramati and Gunamati. Not
less than thirty copper-plate inscriptions, of the seventh and
eighth century A.D., have been found. These record that
land grants were given by the Maitraka rulers of Valabhi
to no fewer than fifteen Buddhist monasteries built there by
members of the royal family, their officers and Buddhist
saints. The inscriptions, however, do not state whether any
of these monasteries enshrined the earthly remains of Bud­
dhist saints. Unfortunately, Valabhi is now in ruins, and
nothing remains to prove its former glory.

Kdmpilya
Curiously enough, we do not come across any place of
Buddhist interest in Gujarat proper. Only a solitary place
named Kampilya, near NavasarT, seems to have been of
some importance. A copper-plate inscription of the Rastra-
kuta king, Dantivarman of Gujarat, dated S. 789 (867 A.D.),
records that, after bathing in the river Puravi (modern
Purna in the Surat district), the king donated lands at the
request of the monk, Sthiramati, in favour of the Kampilya
vihara, where there lived five hundred monks of the Sangha
of Sindhu Desa. Another inscription of the Rastrakuta
king. Dharavarsa, records a similar grant to the same
monastery in S. 806 (884 A.D.). It seems that the Buddhist
community migrated from Sindh, presumably for fear of the
Muslims and founded a vihara at Kampilya which was
already known as a sacred place.
Buddhism was most popular in Maharashtra from the
time of Asoka who sent Buddhist missionaries to preach
there and had one of his edicts engraved on a rock at
Sopara on the West Coast. From this time, right up to the
decline and disappearance of Buddhism, Maharashtra
continued to be favourably inclined towards Buddhism.
Consequently a number of Buddhist places of interest are
to be found in the province. It is well known that, just as
Buddhist structural monasteries were built above ground in
flat regions, Buddhist rock-cut sanctuaries were always
excavated underground in hilly tracts. The latter could
not therefore be at places sanctified by the association of
the Buddha or of Buddhist saints. The Sahyadri mountain
in western Maharashtra with its hard trap was best suited
for rock-cut architecture. It was accordingly honeycombed
with cells at every possible spot, so that the majority of
the Buddhist caves in India are found in western Maha­
rashtra. It was also customary in ancient times to adorn
these caves with mural paintings. The skill involved in
rock-cut architecture and its decoration was held in such
esteem that the masons who excavated the caves and the
artists who decorated them were rewarded with gifts of land
as is evident from some of the inscriptions.
The places in Maharashtra which assumed great im­
portance in Buddhist times owing to their rock-cut archi­
tecture are Bhaja, Kondane, Pitalkhora, Ajanta, Bedsa,
Nasik, Karle, Kanheri and Ellora (Verula).

Bhaja
The earliest caitya hall, dating from the second century
B.C.. is found at Bhaja. The inward slope of the pillars,
the wooden roof girders and the free use of timber show
that this hall was an imitation of a wooden prototype.
The actual use of wood in rock-cut architecture is a special
feature of the earlier period. The octagonal pillars near
the walls are plain. Traces of paintings on the pillars and
figures of the Buddha attended by chauri-bearers are still
discernible. Sculptures of Surya and royal personages
riding on elephants can also be found.

Kondane
The Buddhist caves at Kondane, which is seven miles
from Karjat, are of slightly later date than those at Bhaja.
The facade pillars are in stone instead of wood. The caitya
hall is one of the earliest and is an important landmark in
the development of rock-cut architecture.

Pitalkhora

In the Buddhist caves at Pitalkhora, seven painted

inscriptions are found which record the names of Buddhist
monks who bore the cost of the frescoes.
 Ajanta
There are no fewer than twenty-nine caves of various
sizes at Ajanta. They are cut in the hard volcanic rock,
some of them going as far as 100' into the rock, which
is naturally considered a remarkable architectural achieve­
ment. Cave No. 1 is the finest vihara in India. The caitya
hall in Cave No. 10 measures 10 0 'x 4 0 'x 33 and its stupa
has a double tier at the base and a slightly elongated dome.
Cave No. 26 contains a gigantic sculpture of the Buddha,
considered to be one of the finest in the whole of India.
However, Ajanta is more famous for its beautiful paintings
than for its architecture or for the carved sculptures in the
caves. The walls, the ceilings, and the pillars of nearly all
the caves were once decorated with paintings, remains of
which are found only in thirteen caves. They depict chiefly
scenes from the life of the Buddha and the Jatakas, but
there are many paintings of a secular nature too. The Court
life of the period and scenes of everyday life are graphically
depicted in the frescoes. Indian painting reached its finest
development in the 5th and 6th centuries A.D. and the
best can be seen at Ajanta. Everything is drawn with grace
and mastery and delicately modelled. As an artist has
said, the more one contemplates the Ajanta frescoes the
more one appreciates the subtle relationship that exists
between the groups of figures.
The caitya hall at Bedsa, which is four miles south-east
of the railway station of Kamshet, measures 4 5 i'x 2 1 '.
The base of the column is vase shaped and its capital is
surmounted by pairs of men and animals seated on kneeling
horses and elephants. Traces of paintings can also be seen
on the pillars in the stupa.
Nasik
There is a group of twenty-three cayes, dating from the
first century B.C. to the second century A.D. at Nasik.
Some of these were altered and adapted by the Mahayana
Buddhists between the sixth and seventh centuries A.D.
 , C iilv.Hall lilu ia , W rstcrn India, i nd ..n t u r y B.C. (C ourtesy,
I’ai-adr D epartm ent of A r d ia io lo g j . G overn m en t of India)
Cave No. 3, called Gautamiputra Vihara, is large, having
six pillars with carvings of elephants, bulls and horses on
the capital. Cave No. 10 is called the Nahapana vihara.
The caitya halls at Nasik and Junnar are more or less of
the same type. The Nasik caves are especially important
for the interesting and beautiful inscriptions of Nahapana,
Gautamiputra and Sriyajfia Satakarni.
Junnar
There are as many as 130 eaves carved in five separate
groups within a radius of four miles from Junnar. Hence
the town can be said to be the largest monastic establish­
ment in western India. The frequency and smallness of
the cells indicate that they belong to an early period.

Karle
The caitya hall at Karle is of the same general pattern
as that at Bhaja. In size and splendour, however, it is one
of the most magnificent monuments in India. In fact, it is
described, in one of the ancient inscriptions found at the
place, as the most excellent rock mansion in Jambudvipa.
It was excavated by Bhutapala. a merchant of Vaijayanti.
Fortunately, it is also among the best preserved. It
measures 124' x 46V and the vaulted roof rises to a
height of 45'. It has a row of fifteen monolithic
pillars on each side with kalaSa bases and bell­
shaped capitals surmounted by kneeling elephants, and
horses with men and women riders. Its two-storeyed facade
has an enormous sun-window. The caitya hall dates from
the close of the first century B.C.

Kanheri
There are more than one hundred caves at Kanheri
which was also a large monastic establishment. From a
number of inscriptions found here, dating from the second
century A.D. to modern times, a more or less connected
history of the place can be reconstructed. The beginning of
 the caves can be attributed to the reign of Gautamiputra
Satakarni about 180 A.D. Many excavations and sculp­
tures were added from time to time. The introduction of
the Buddha image in the establishment is shown by a fourth
century inscription recording the dedication of a Buddha
image by a certain Buddhaghosa. The &ilahar rulers of
Puri, who were feudatories of the Ras|rakuta sovereigns,
took a special interest in the Buddhist establishment at
Kanheri and made liberal donations to it as recorded in
their copper-plate grants dated S. 765, 775 and 799. In­
scriptions of S. 913, 921 and 931 further show that the
Buddhist monks still continued to occupy the caves. A
modern Japanese inscription of a Buddhist pilgrim of the
Nichiren sect engraved on the walls of Cave No. 66
testifies to the continued importance of the caves even in
modern times.
Some inscriptions found in Kanheri incidentally tell us
of the Buddhist viharas situated at Kalyan and near Paithan,
of which we know nothing from other sources. At Ellora
(Veruja) can be found the most wonderful caves in the
world, mountains cut into colossal sanctuaries. Of the
thirty-four caves, the twelve to the south are Buddhist while
the remaining are Brahmanical or Jaina. The Buddhist
caves are the earliest, dating from 450 to 650 A.D. The
entrance to the hall lies through a large open court. The
caitya hall, which is called the ViSvakarma Cave, measures
forty-eight square feet. A huge image of the Buddha
flanked by attendants and flying figures is seated on a lion
throne in a projecting arch of the stupa. There are a
number of Buddha and Bodhisattva images. Two of the
monasteries with wide courtyards in front are three-storeyed
and rise to a height of 50'. These impressive structures
and their execution show remarkable ingenuity.
Besides these, there are many other places of Buddhist
interest, each with a number of excavations, some of them
as old as any in western India. A number of these also
contain inscriptions of interest.
Other important sites
One of the sites of these caves is Kuda on the shore
of the Rajapuri creek, forty-five miles south of Bombay.
Another is Mahad on the Savitri river, 28 miles south-east
of Kuda. At Karhad in the Satara district, there is an
extensive series of sixty caves on the spur of the Agasiva
hill. The cells here are small, the large halls are devoid of
pillars, and there is complete absence of sculpture. There
is another series at Shelarwadi. Two women disciples of
Thera Bhadanta Siha are said to have had the caitya hall
at this place excavated and one of the caves was donated
by the wife of a ploughman. At Kondivte, three miles
from Jogeshwari, there is a group of nineteen caves. In
the Sholapur district at Ter (ancient Tagara) there is a struc­
tural caitya hall which was built in the eighth century A.D.
and later transformed into a Brahmanical temple. In 1188
A.D. the Silahar king, Gandaraditya, built a Buddha temple
at Kolhapur on the bank of a tank called Gaiicjasagara.

Goa
That Buddhism flourished in and around Goa, farther
south, in the sixth century A.D. is proved by the discovery
of the Hire-Gutti (north Kanara district) plates which record
an endowment to a Buddhist vihara by the Bhoja king,
Asankita of Goa. Similarly, the discovery of Buddhist
statues of a later date in the village of Mushir in the Goa
district shows that Buddhism continued to flourish for a
considerable period. Buddhist monks in Goa at the time
of the Kadamba king, Jayakesin, are referred to in the
DvyaSraya-kavya of the twelfth century.

Karnatak
Buddhism began to exercise its influence in Karnatak
from the time of Atoka, whose edicts at Siddhapur and in
the neighbourhood are found in the province. His mis­
sionaries carried the message all over the land, as a result
of which many Buddhist monasteries were built at Vana-
 vasi at the time of the Satavahanas. Later, however, pro­
bably owing to the stronger influence of Jainism and
Brahmanism, the influence of Buddhism declined. A place
named pambaj in the Dharwar district seems to have be­
come important as a Buddhist centre in the 11th century
A.D., as seen from an inscription of S. 1017 <1095 A.D.).
according to which a temple of the Buddhist deity. Tara,
and a Buddhist vihara were built at the place by the sixteen
settis (Sresthins or merchants) of pamba} during the reign
of Laksmidevi. the queen of Vikramaditya VI. over the
district of eighteen agraharas. It is believed that another
temple of Tara was built at the same place by Setti
Sarigaramaya of Lokkigundi.

C. I n S o u t h e r n I n d ia

I| a number of places in Maharashtra attained great

importance in Buddhist times on account of their wonderful
rock-cut architecture, there were certain places in Andhra
which were famous for their equally magnificent Buddhist
stupas. Buddhism was well established in Andhra in the
time of Asoka. if not earlier, owing to its situation midway
between Magadha. the home of Buddhism, and Ceylon
which had already become a stronghold of Buddhism and
with which Andhra had seaborne trade through its big river
ports. As the Buddhists were largely recruited from the
commercial classes, their wealth was utilized to raise magni-
licent stupas.
Such stupas were built at several -places in the region
between the lower valleys of the Krishna, and the Godavari.
A number of Buddhist sites from Salihundun in the north
to Chinganjam in the south have been discovered, of which
the following are the most important since they possess
magnificent stupas.
The stupas at Amaravati and Nagarjunakonda in the
Guntur district and at Bhattiprolu. Jagayyapeta. Gusiwada
and Ghantsala in the Krishna district were built between
C aitya Hall, Cave 19, A janta, o. (ith cen tu ry A .D. (C ourtesy, D ep artm en t of
A rch aeology, G overnm ent of India)
T h e B u d d h a. Rronzp, N alan d a, 9th centnr>
the 2nd century B.C. and the 3rd century A.D. These
consisted of brick-built hemispherical domes and were
characterized by rectangular projections from the base of
the dome at the four cardinal points. They were finished
with plastic grace, painted white, and embellished at the
bass with sculptured white marble panels richly carved in
low relief. The technical skill and artistic excellence of
the Andhra craftsmen are best seen in the construction of
the stupas and especially in the manufacture of small
caskets of crystal and other jewellery.
The earliest Buddhist monument in the region is the
Bhattiprolu stupa built in the second century B.C., probably
by a Buddhist missionary during the time of a local king
named Kubiraka. The claim that it was a mahastupa
enshrining the mortal remains of the Buddha is justified by
the discovery of a bone relic inside a crystal casket together
with flowers made of gold and pearls.

Amaravati
Amaravati, which is 16 miles west of Guntur, is the
most important Buddhist site in Andhra. The stupa at
this place is the largest and most famous. It was first
begun as early as the second century B.C. and was enlarged
between 150 and 200 A.D. by the efforts of Nagarjuna. Its
dome measures 162' and has a height of 95'. The width
of the pradaksinapatha is 15', and the railing surrounding
it 14' high. This stQpa is larger than the Sanchi stOpa which
is 120' wide and 54' high.
The beautiful railings depict scenes from the Buddha’s
life. The relief medallions, beautifully balanced in com­
position. are among the greatest works of art in India.
The Amaravati stupa could well vie in artistic beauty and
grandeur with the Sanchi and Bharhut stupas in the North.
Like the Mathura and Gandhara schools of sculpture, the
Amaravati school enjoyed great influence. Its products
were carried to Ceylon and South-East Asia and had a
marked effect on the local styles.
 Nagarjunakonda
Nothing was known of this great stupa at Nagarjuna­
konda or the Hill of Nagarjuna before it was discovered
twenty-five years ago. It is situated on the south bank of
the river Krishna in the Guntur district. It was also a
mahastupa. enshrining the mortal remains of the Buddha,
and was probably built in the time of Asoka. It was reno­
vated with additions by Santisiri and other ladies of the
local Iksvaku royal family, to whom goes the credit of
making Buddhism popular in Andhra in the third century
A.D. Now it is in ruins which are greater than those at
Amaravati. Hundreds of remarkable sculptures executed
in the Amaravati style have been found. From the in­
scriptions on the Ayaga pillars, it is evident that Nagarjuna­
konda, the ancient city of Vijayapuri. was of great import­
ance as a centre of Buddhism and enjoyed international
fame. Several monasteries were built at this place for the
residence of Buddhist monks of different schools coming
from different countries like Ceylon, Kashmir. Gandhara.
and China.
The people of Andhra traded in and outside the coun­
try and had close contacts with the Roman world of the
time. This is proved by the discovery of inscriptions, of
sculptures depicting a bearded soldier wearing a tunic, and
trousers, and of various other objects of Roman origin.
In Andhra, Guntapalli, 28 miles north of Ellore railway
station, and Sankaran, a mile east of Anakapalla, are im­
portant for their rock-cut architecture. Other places in the
neighbourhood appear to have assumed significance in
Buddhist times, as the presence of stupas and other anti­
quities testifies. The most notable among these are Goli,
Chezarla. Gummati, Bezwada. Garikapadu, Uraiyur, Kuvain,
Chinve, and Vidyadharpur.

NSgapattam
Nagapattam, near Madras on the East Coast, had a
Buddhist settlement in the time of the Colas. An important
copper-plate inscription of the 11th century A.D. states
that the Cola King, Rajaraja, gave the village of Anaimanga-
lam for the maintenance of a shrine of the Buddha in the
Cujamanivarma. Vihara which the Sailendra king, Mara-
vijayottung Varman of ^ri-vijaya and Kataha of Indonesia,
had erected at Nagapa{tam. In the epilogue of his com­
mentary on the Netti-pakarana, Dhammapala mentions this
place and the Dharmasoka Vihara in it, where he composed
this commentary.

Srlmulavdsam
Srimulavasam, on the West Coast, had Buddhist settle­
ments in the time of a ruler bearing the same name. In
the great temple at Tanjore scenes from the life of the
Buddha are represented in decorative panels.

Kuncf
Kanci, with its Rajavihara and its hundred monasteries,
was a famous stronghold of Buddhism in the South. Five
Buddha images have been discovered near this town.
The famous Pali commentator, Buddhaghosa, has men­
tioned in his commentary (the ManorathapuranI) that he
wrote it at the request of the Venerable Jotipala who was
staying with him at Kancipura. Yuan Chwang also mentions
a certain Dharmapala from Kaflci as being a great master at
Nalanda. In Korea, an inscription in verse has been dis­
covered.1 In a preface to it, written by Li Se in 1378 A.D.,
there is an account of the life and travels of an Indian monk
called Dhyanabhadra. This account tells us that this monk
was the son of a king of Magadha and a princess from Kane!
and that when he visited Kaflci he heard a sermon given
by a Buddhist preacher on the Karanda-vyQha-sutra. Clearly,
this place was a recognized centre of Buddhism as late as
the 14th century A.D.

1. A rthur Waley, 'New Light on Buddhism in Mediaeval India’, in

Milanget chinois et bouddhique, Vol. I (1931-32), pp. 355-376.
 Later Modifications o f Buddhism

A p p r o a c h t o H in d u is m

Introductory
The fact that the relation between the Buddha and his
contemporary Brahmanas was veiy cordial has been well
demonstrated by Mrs. Rhys Davids. As she has rightly
pointed out, the Buddha never contradicted the Upanisadic
doctrine of the immanence of the Brahman in each indivi­
dual. What he denied, however, was the existence of the
material soul which certain passages in the Upanisads seem
to suggest. It would therefore not be an exaggeration to
say with Mrs. Rhys Davids that what the Buddha preached
was in agreement with the central religious tenets or prin­
ciples of immanence in the Brahmanism of the day .1 The
Brahmanas kept the knowledge of the Brahman a jealously
guarded secret and the exclusive property of the privileged
Aryans, the first three classes of men, or the Traivarnika.
The Buddha raised his voice openly against this attitude
of the Brahmanas. He proclaimed that in the domain of
the true and ultimate knowledge no distinction of class,
clan or social status counted, and that it was open to all .2
It will therefore not be far from the truth to say that
originally Buddhism was mainly concerned with the reforma­
tion or popularization, as Prof. Max Muller says, of the
fourth stage in the scheme of Brahmanic life, viz., true
Brahmanism.
1. Indian Historical Quarterly, Vol* X , pp. 274-86.
2. D igha, I , p. 99.
 However, we should not forget what the Buddha’s in­
valuable and positive contribution to Indian thought was.
In the scheme of his religious order, he laid the greatest
stress on the fact that one should always train one’s mind
and body in strict accordance with certain ethical standards
called £ila. In the Upanisads we find little about ethics.
Indeed, the ethics that we come across in some of the
passages is overshadowed by overstressed enquiries about
the soul and the Brahman and allied subjects. The Buddha
thought such enquiries were of little value in our endeavour
to bring our day to day sufferings to an end. Subsequently,
for the Brahmanical religion, sages like Gautama, Baudhayana
and Apastamba standardized the ethical rules of conduct to
be observed by orthodox recluses.1

Vedic Ritualism
Vedic ritualism found no favour with the Buddha. He
condemned it as unmeritorious and futile, for it entailed the
brutal slaughter of animals, hardship for the labourers and
lavish waste.
What sacrifice then was more eminent and of greater
merit than the Vedic sacrifices? To this question, the
Buddha replied that the giving of alms to virtuous ascetics
came first, but still greater was the regular giving of alms
to the four quarters. More virtuous than this was taking
refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma and the Order. Next in
importance came the adherence with well-disposed mind to
the Learner’s Sentences (Siksapada). To renounce the world,
join the Buddha’s Order and gain insight into the truth2,
however, connoted the highest merit of all. On another
occasion the Buddha elucidated his conception of a perfect
sacrifice (yajna) in the following terms3: To feel happy

1. Q autama’H date 500 B.C. (G. BUhlor, 8.B.K. II), Baudh&yana 400
B.C., Apaatamba 300 B.C.
2. K utadanta-flutta, Diglrn I, 144-47; E. J. Thomas, Life of Buddha,
p. 176 and G ita, IV, 28,32,33.
3. Ariguttara, I I I , 337.
before giving, after giving and in the moment of giving is
to achieve perfection in the yajna, i.e., offering. The field
of offering becomes perfect when the person who receives
alms is freed from the sins of desire, anger and delusion.
The wise, performing this yajna, will be born in the happiest
of worlds.
The reaction against the Vedic rites began early in the
Upanisadic period and reached its acme with the Sahkhya
school of thought. These rites were criticized on three
grounds: ( 1) they were impure, because they caused the
slaughter of so many animals, (2) they were perishable, and
(3) they fostered feelings of superiority and inferiority.1
The Bhagavadgita also speaks of the futility of sacrificial
rites on the ground of their perishability.2 It may here be
observed that the Vedic sacrifices in northern India were
given up on account of many similar movements which
affected Vedic ritualism adversely although their occasional
performance occurs even today in southern India.

Bhagavadgita and the Bhakti Movement

The Bhagavadgita and the Bhakti movement, according
to Sir R. G. Bhandarkar, owe their origin to the stream of
thought which began with the Upanisads and culminated in
the rise of Buddhism and Jainism in eastern India and arose
about the same time as the latter .1 Buddhism and Jainism
soon prevailed in the land on account of their cosmopolitan
tendencies. The protagonists of the theistic religion there­
fore thought it wise to propagate their religion among the
masses including the non-Aryans (Sudras). The religious
systems in those days were, by and large, atheistic, and the
Indian mind tended to indulge in moral discussion and in
moral exaltation unconnected with theistic faith as
Buddhism and other systems clearly show. Consequently
the ideas represented by the Bhagavadgita were needed to
1. Sarikhya-k&rika, verse 2.
2. Chapter IX , verse 21.
3. Vaifftavism, p. 9.
counteract these tendencies. The Upanisads are, of course,
full of theistic ideas, but they are so scattered that they had
to be organized into a system of redemption in order to be
brought within the comprehension of the masses.'
The Bhagavadgita was an epoch-making literary docu­
ment. It proved a landmark in the history of Indian
religious thought in that it gave new direction to religious
speculation. The fundamental teachings of the Gita are
concerned mainly with the philosophy of action and the
cult of devotion to Vasudeva-Krsna. Clearly, the author of
the Gita felt it necessary to inculcate in the people a sense
of duty and devotion because the air was already contaminat­
ed with speculations on inaction and atheism. There were
some philosophers, for instance. Makkhali Gosiila, who con­
demned action as leading to evil. We find in the Upanisads
also some sayings which betray their antipathy to action
(karma ).2 So the Buddha took up the challenge on behalf
of the Sramanas. non-Vedic thinkers, /t and stressed the
value of action in his scheme of Silas, or moral codes, but
he remained silent on the theistic problem. The Bhagavad­
gita upheld its utility on behalf of orthodox theologists,
saying that its good or bad consequences might be averted
provided the action were carried out in a spirit of devotion
and detachment.3
The Gita has been declared a Yogasastra. a treatise on
Yoga, and its preacher Yogesvara. the lord of Yoga. Yoga,
as expounded in the Gita, is not yet a systematized philo­
sophy. The term stands for a variety of meanings. Some­
times it signifies mental abstraction4, sometimes mental
balance*, on other occasions a mental resolve whereby
everything is dedicated to God6. Yoga in the sense of a

1. Vaiynavism, p. 29.
2. Bjrhad&ranyaka Upanigad, IV, 4,22.
3. Chapter I I , 57; IX , 26,27, etc.
4. IV , 20,34.
5. II , 48, V I, 32,33.
6. II , 39, X V III, 57.
mental resolve is also common to Buddhist literature.1 It
connotes “concentration”, and “devotion”, the keynote of
the Gita, which is also found in the Pali Canon .2 The
central theme of the Gita is that Lord Sri Krsna stands
before Arjuna as the human incarnation of the supreme
Godhead and proclaims his readiness to save whosoever
surrenders heart and soul to him while engaged in worldly
pursuits. This message of devotion had a far-reaching and
permanent effect on Hindu society and social organization.
It provided equal opportunities for everybody, irrespective
of caste and sex, to lead a religious life and win salvation, a
fact which went a long way in cementing the unity of all
within the Hindu fold.
The present writer is inclined to place the age of the
Gita in the post-Buddha period as it refers to Buddhist ideas.
(I) The instructions regarding proper food, timely sleep and
timely waking3 undoubtedly refer to some of the most
important Buddhist teachings born of the Buddha’s own
personal experiences. (2) The opinion referred to in the
lines "some wise men say that the wrongful action is
to be abandoned ”1 is exactly what the Buddha held. The
Ariguttora, for example, says that the Buddha confessed
himself to be an advocate of inaction in the sense that he
argued in favour of abandoning wrongful act .5 (3) The
fourfold food, “annam caturvidham” mentioned in
verse XV, 14, corresponds to that of Buddhist literature .6
And it is hard to believe that the original Mahabharata
could have consisted of the whole of the Bhagavadgita.
None the less, it is possible that the Gita was composed in
Panini's time, 500—450 B.C., for the grammarian alludes
definitely to Bhakti and the Bhagavata religion. Perhaps,
1. Sam yutta, V, 414-20,442-62. Note Apaxtnmba, Dharma«Otra, I,
8,23, where Yoga Htandn for Home golden means, Akrodha, etc*.
2. Majjhirna, I, 472; Pali Dictionary (PTS).
3. VI, 10-17.
4. X V III, 3 : Ti/nji/mn doMivad ity eke karma prdhvr marriqinab.
5. AAguttara, I, 02, IV, 183.
(i. C f . Pali : Cut taro ahftra.
the most indisputable evidence in favour of placing Panini
in the post-Buddha period is his references to Maskari-
parivrajaka, who was in all probability Makkhali Gosala.
the reputed religious leader of the Ajivika sect.1

Varnas, Asramas, and the Buddhist Community

The division of the social order of the Hindus into four
varnas has come down from the Vedic period. This order,
according to ancient sages, is based on birth and not rank.
The Buddha criticized it in his discourses on several
occasions. We must not conclude from this, however, that
he wanted to destroy the social order of the day .2 On the
contrary, he believed in a social order which accorded the
first rank in the realm of secular affairs to the warrior. The
claim for this social order finds favour only once in
Brahmanical literature, in Gautama’s Dharmasutra (VIII, 1).
The Buddha’s objection to the order upheld by the Brah­
manas arose from his deep-rooted antipathy towards the
Brahmanas’ claim that they had monopoly over spiritual
betterment and salvation .1 The Buddha was not the first
to want to abolish class distinctions in respect of pravrajya
or renunciation; before him there were other religious
orders, too, which admitted members of all classes to their
fold .4
Of the four stages of life, the first two, viz.. studentship
and householdership were known from the period of the
Vedas. The other two asramas, i.e., forest life and com­
plete renunciation were probably introduced during the
period of the Aranyakas and Upanisads, although no sharp
line of distinction existed between the two. The last stage

1. Cf. V . S. Agrawala, Paijini, etc., pp. 358-60. 11. G. Bhandarkar is

of the opinion that it was composed not later than the beginning of the 4th
century B .C. S. Radhakrishnan pleads for 500 B .C . (Indian Philosophy, I,
p. 524). Prof, Belvalker expressed in a personal talk to the present writer
that he would be inclined to assign to it a date prior to the Buddha.
2. E. J . Thomas, Life of Buddha , p. 128.
3. Cf. Digha, I, No. 3; Majjhirna, No* 90, pp. 128-30.
4. Cf. Oldenberg, Buddha , p. 154.
 called pravrajya and muni is clearly explained in Bfhada-
ranyaka Upanisad.' Some proof of the Asrama theory can
also be found in the Chandogya Upanisad.* The Brhada-
ranyaka Upanisad makes a distinction between sramana,
i.e., sanyasin and tapasa or forest-dweller.s The same
Upanisad defines muni as “one who realizes the truth about
the soul”.1 This definition happily supports Apastamba’s
designation of that stage as mauna. The muni of the Vedic
period, according to Macdonell and Keith, seems to be “more
of a medicine man”.' P. T. Srinavasa Iyengar, however,
is of the opinion that the first stage, Brahmacarya, and the
last, i.e., that of Sanyasin called muni, were invented in the
age of the hymns.6 It is therefore evident that though the
names of the asramas are not found in the Vedic period,
one can amply demonstrate the life of the asramins.7
It is highly significant that ancient sages like Baudha-
yana and Apastamba do not speak highly of the sanyasa
stage, because they considered it alien to their cieed. This
is obvious from Baudhayana’s observation that the asramas
called pravrajya. etc., were introduced by an Asura called
Kapila. the son of Prahlada, who was not on good terms
with the gods." Again. Baudhayana refutes the jnanavada,
salvation by knowledge, by quoting passages from well-
known Vedic sources.” Gautama and Apastamba both hold
that the life of the householder is superior to all other stages.10
So the authors of the Dharmasutras. to speak in philoso­
phical terms, were advocates of a synthesis between Jfiana
and Karma as a means of salvation. From this it has been

1. III,r> ,l; IV, 4,22.

2. I I , 23,1.
3. IV , 3,22.
4. IV, 4,22; Etam tva viditvft m unir bhavati.
5. Vedic Index of Names and Subjects,
6. Life in Ancient India,
7. Max Muller, The Six System* of Indian Philosophy, p. 230.
8. Dharma*utra, II, 6,30.
9. I b i d II, 6,33-36.
10. Gautama, III, 36; Apaatamba, II, 23,24.
deduced that the two stages, Vanaprastha and Sanyasa, origi­
nated among non-Brahmana thinkers and were subsequently
incorporated with the Asramic theory of the Brahmanas. In
spite of their predilections for the life of the householder,
Gautama and other sages never hesitated to describe in elabo­
rate detail the rules of conduct required of hermits.1 We
may therefore venture to say with Max Muller that the three
or four stages of life were already well known before the rise
of Buddhism ,2 though probably not in rigid form.
As already stated, when the Buddha appeared on the
scene he discovered to his dismay that the spiritual and intel­
lectual life of the community was under the sway of a small
number of Brahmanas. This made him undertake the life­
long mission of throwing open to all communities the privi­
lege of renunciation or pravrajya. He invited people to
join his religious order, irrespective of whether or not they
underwent preliminary conditions such as upariayana, initia­
tion in Vedic studies, as prescribed for the Brahmanas,
thereby widening the scope of the religious life called
Brahmacarya. According to Brahmanical traditions one
can take to the life of renunciation only after being a house­
holder or a forest-dweller. A student of the Vedas cannot
enter it directly, although he may choosc to be a devout
bachelor and remain for life with his teacher, Naisthika.'
The Buddha rebelled against all such restrictions and limita­
tions. For him no one needed to go through such prelimina­
ries, and any one who had faith in his ideal of the Dharma
was entitled to admission into his Order. There is a tradi­
tion among the Brahmanas also that an individual can take
to renunciation when he considers himself fit for it .4 It is

1. Gautama, III, 2-26; Baudhiiyana, II, 6,15-10,70; Apaatamba, II, 21,

1-23,5.
2. S ix Systems, p. 236; Richard Fick Bays that the Vanaprastha stage
well known to Br&hmaqas and was introduced into the life of the Buddhist
Order; see Social Organisation, etc., Eng. trana. p. 61. The Vanaprastha is
known to the Anguttara, III, 219.
3. Chandogya, II, 23,1.
4. See Haradatta*8 Commentary on Xpafttamba, Dhar. II, 21,8.
 possible that this tradition was introduced under Buddhist
influence. It is to be noted, however, that the Buddha
made no distinction whatsoever between the holy life of
Brahmacarya, undertaken by a Vedic student after finishing
his studies, and that undertaken by a householder.1
The Buddha and his mission were concerned primarily
with only one stage of life, pravrajya. There were, of course,
upasakas to support his community of monks, but they did
not originally belong to the Order. The formation of a lay
community need not be a pre-condition for the formation of
a body of recluses. The householders in ancient India wel­
comed every ascetic wanting alms and clothing, hence the
Buddhist monks had no difficulty in meeting their require­
ments. In the lay world, there was no sharp distinction
between the Buddha’s regular upasaka and the non-upasaka.
The lay disciple, in order to become one, did not have to
alter his status in the social order; all that he was required
to do was to take refuge in the Buddha. Almost all the brah­
manas who spoke to the Buddha became his upasakas. This
did not mean that their social rank changed thereby or that
they gave up their Brahmanical traditions and customs.2 In
other words, there was no incongruity in one’s becoming an
upasaka and at the same time maintaining one’s customary
family duties, religious and social, provided they did not
offend the obligatory rules, non-killing, etc. This state of
affairs could be corroborated by the prevalent customs in
Buddhist countries in the olden days. In Burma, for example,
all the Court rituals of the Pagan dynasty were deeply tinged
with Brahmanical religious practices and the gods Narayana,
Ganesa and Brahma were held in honour.3
The Buddhist lay community, as a class, was created
only a hundred years after the passing of the Buddha, pro­
bably by the Mahasanghikas. The fundamental conditions
to be fulfilled by a lay disciple were that he had to (I) take
1. Aritfuttara III, pp. 223-30.
2. Oldenberg, Buddhat pp. 382-3,102, n. 1.
3. N. R. Roy, Buddhism in Burma, p. 148.
refuge in the three gems of Buddhism, (2) take five moral
vows that were binding on the upasakas, and (3) listen to
the preaching on the Uposatha days on which eight moral
vows were observed.1 The lay disciple could enter the Order
whenever he wished. He was at liberty to return to secular
life as soon as he felt that he was unsuited to monastic life.
The Buddha never made it obligatory for the members of the
Order to embrace the mendicant’s life for ever as we find in
the Asramic system of the Brahmanas.

Mahdyanism and the Bhakti Cult

Buddhism, as appears from the Pali Nikayas, is a system
founded entirely on ethical principles. It has no room for
theism or a theistic way of life. In other words, the Buddha
never entertained the idea of God as ruling over the destiny
of mankind. Nor did he think much of prayer and worship
(ayacana, prarthana) as conceived by the Brahmanas .2 M an’s
salvation, according to him, lay not in prayer and worship
but in his own right efforts and wisdom. This aspect of the
Buddha’s teaching may be called salvation through works .3
When, however, we examine Buddhist literature thiee or
four centuries later we find that Buddhism had assumed a
form which had developed features quite alien to its otiginal
concepts. Mahayana Buddhism turned the human Buddha,
^akyamuni, into an eternal and supreme deity presiding over
the world, ready to grant boons to his devotees. The his­
torical Buddha is only an emanation sent down by the
Adibuddha to preach the Dharma and save mankind from
its ills. People now began to pray and worship him in order
to please him so that he might guide them to salvation.
Buddhism thus became a Buddha cult in the Saddharma-
pundarika, Gandavyuha and other Mahayana sOtras. Now
salvation depended on devotion and fervent prayer. In the
original Buddhism the Buddha nowhere taught that the wor­

1. N. Dutt, Indian Historical Quarterly, VII, pp. 668 ff.

2. Dlgha, I, 244-45 ; Saipyutta, IV, 312-14.
3. McGovern, Mahayana, p. 103.
ship of his person would be useful in any way. What he
advised his disciples on the eve of his passing was that they
should act and behave strictly in accord with the Dharma and
ethical principles and that such conduct would be more
worthy of him than ostentatious adoration .1 It may there­
fore be assumed that the evolution of the original atheistic
Buddhism into theistic Mahayanism was a result of the reli­
gious fervour of its adherents under the dominating influ­
ence of theistic Hinduism through the centuries.2 Mahayana
became popular and powerful owing to its devotional
aspect and perhaps to its tendency to follow many
Hindu and possibly Persian ideas, and it succeeded in
greatly overshadowing its rival, Hinayanism, although the
latter continued to exist as long as Buddhism remained
in India .1
Another important feature to be noticed in Mahayana is
that its adherents, the Bodhisattvas, are enjoined to perform
good deeds and pass the merit earned thereby on to all sen­
tient beings in order to awaken their Bodhi hearts. The
Hindu doctrine of the dedication of action to God as taught
by the Gita supplies an obvious parallelism. We come
across a similar theory prevalent among the Roman Catholic
Christians which is known as the doctrinc of supererogatory
acts.4 Some people believe that the Buddhist practice of
dedicating merit to others has influenced the Gita’s teaching
that action should be dedicated to God, but how the Buddhist
practice of dedicating merit came into vogue is obscure.
There is no mention of this practice in the Nikayas. It is
likely that when the idea of service to others (pararthatva)
was emphasized in Mahayana Buddhism, the practice was
introduced as a token of the spirit of self-abnegation and
detachment. The spirit of self-surrender is also a natural

1. Dig ha, II, 138 ; Therlg&thR, verse 161.

2. R . Kimura, Hxnoyana and Mahayana, etc., p. 43; 8. Radhakrishnan,
Indian Philosophy, I, p. 583.
3. McGovern, Mahdyana, p. 183.
4. Ibid., p. 115.
 corollary of the Vasudeva-bhakti cult which dates back at
least to 400 B.C.1

Advaitism
Mahayana Buddhism gave rise to two main schools of
philosophy, viz., the Madhyamika and the Yogacara. The
Mfidhyama philosophy was systematized by Nagarjuna,
one of the greatest thinkers of India. The Buddha followed
a moderate path avoiding the two extremes—indulgence
in sensual pleasures and the habitual practice of self-morti­
fication. When an attempt was made to interpret and dis­
cover the true import of that path, Nagarjuna came forward
with his own interpretation and called it Madhyamika, or
moderate. The central idea in his philosophy is prajna, wis­
dom, or ultimate knowledge derived from an understanding
of the nature of things in their true perspective, viz., sunyata.
Sunyata for him is a synonym for “dependent origination”.
So the dictum: “everything is void” <sarvam sunyam) must
be taken to mean that everything has a dependent origina­
tion and is hence non-substantial (nihsvabhava). Here
“everything” stands for all things, dharmas internal and
external. So everything for him is devoid of any substan­
tiality and becomes illusory. When this is realized the
dharmadhatu, or the monistic cosmic element, becomes
manifest.
Another fundamental principle in his philosophy is
Ajativada, the non-origination theory. Things declared
non-substantial, sunya, also bring home to us by implication
the idea that they are unoriginated and undestroyed. Nagar­
juna takes great pains to expound the non-origination theory
in his works, such as the Madhyamika-sastra. His method of
exposition and logic were so convincing that even those who
belonged to the opposite camp were tempted to adapt them
to their own theories.
To quote one example, Gaudapada, a great exponent
of Advaitism, was influenced considerably by Nagarjuna’s
1. Vaifnavism, p. 13.
method of argument. The external world, for both the
Madhyamikas and Advaitins, is unreal. The arguments
advanced by Nagarjuna were also adopted by Gaudapada in
so far as they supported his propositions. The formulation
of the non-origination theory by Nagarjuna is a logical
corollary of his doctrine of relativity (sunyata). The non­
origination theory, as applied to the phenomenal world,
was unknown in Advaitism before Gaudapada. The Upani­
sads speak several times of the Atman and Brahman as
unborn (aja), imperishable (avyaya) and eternal (nitya), but
nowhere do they speak thus of the external world. Nor do
we find anybody before Gaudapada in the galaxy of Advai­
tins who pleaded for the non-origination of things in general
as did Gaudapada in his Karikas. Therefore there is no
denying the fact that Gaudapada must have taken the idea
from Nagarjuna and adapted it suitably to provide the
Advaita doctrine with a firm foundation .1
The second important Mahayana school is that of the
Yogacaras, who were adherents of mentalism. They do not
make any undue claims for the non-origination theory not­
withstanding the fact that they too hold the world to be
unreal. Thus both the Madhyamika and the Yogacara
schools maintain the maya-like nature of the world. The
Advaitins, likewise, adhere to the Maya doctrine in order
to sustain their belief in Advaitism. A great champion of
the Advaita school, Sankaracarya, took this weapon of the
illusion theory and used it against his rival realists, the Naiya-
yikas and the Vaise§ikas, and on this account was called a
crypto Buddhist (pracchannabauddha). Sankara’s stand in
advocating the unreality of the world, however, is logical
and independent, for according to the Upanisads there exist­
ed previously only the Brahman or Atman, and things other
than that were unreal and diseased (artam ).2 Such a dec­
laration makes it obvious that nothing but the Brahman or
Atman is real. The question arises, what was the source
1. More details in lrulian Philosophy, I, p. 668.
2. Bfhadaragyttka Upanisad, I I I , 5,1.
of Sankara’s doctrine of Maya? The Mahayana Buddhists
who immediately preceded him are the most likely source.
On the other hand, it is possible that it was the Sa§titantra,
the renowned treatise on the Sarikhya philosophy. It is
said that the Sastitantra contains a statement to the
effect that “the ultimate and real nature of the gunas, the
Sarikhyan forces, is invisible; and what is visible to us is fair­
ly false like an illusory object, maya.”' Incidentally, it may
be mentioned that the earlier Buddhist Nikayas make no
mention whatever of the Maya doctrine.
There is another matter in which Buddhist ideas are
traceable. The division of action, karma, into physical,
vocal and mental, is universal. A further division of each
of the above varies with each school of thought. The
Buddhists classify physical and mental acts into three and
vocal into four. The three physical acts are killing, steal­
ing and adultery; the four vocal acts are lying (mrsavada),
malicious speech (pisunavaca), harsh speech (parusavaca),
frivolous talk (sambhinnapralapa), while the three mental
acts are covetousness (abhidhya), malevolence (vyapada)
and wrong view (mithyadrsti). These acts constitute ten
unmeritorious actions and their converse ten meritorious
actions. A similar tenfold division of action is also men­
tioned in the Bhasya on the Nyaya-sutra, (1,1,17) and
commented on in the Vartika of Udyotakara. The Vartika

1. Ouv&n&tjt paramam rupatyt, etc., in the Vy&sabh&sya on the Yoga-sutra,

VI, 13: TathA cd nufosanam. V&caspati remarks: A im eva §a$£tiantmay&
nutiffih. The terra m&y& has two meanings : (1) prakrti, and (2) illusion or
illusory object. May5 in the former sense is common to the Upanisads
and the Gft&, and in the latter sense is peculiar to the Buddhists and the
Advaitins.
It is to be added here that Vacaspati attributes this verse to Var-
saganya (BhamatT, II, 1,2,3). As J. H . Woods has pointed out (Yogasutra), the
verse must have been originally from the Sastitantra of Panca^ikha. More*
over, the antiquity of the Virnaganya school and their text-book has been
proved by E . H . Johnston and it has been reasonably demonstrated that the
text-book of the V&rpaganya school must have been in existence long before
the poet A^vaghosa, 50 B .C .— 50 A .D . (See Buddhacanta, II, Introduc­
tion, xlvi, lvi.)
 discusses ten meritorious acts as follows: protection (pari-
tragaip), service (paricaranam), and charity (danam), which
three acts are physical; truthfulness (satyam), benevolence
(hitam), kindness (priyam). and Vedic study (svadhyaya)
which four are vocal acts; while mercy (daya), love (sprha),
and faith (sraddha) are three mental acts. So apparently
the Naiyayikas. although they accepted the tenfold division
of the good act, explain it positively and not merely as the
reverse of the bad act as the Buddhists do. The Bhagavad­
gita which divides the good acts into three under threefold
penance (tapas) says: “ Paying reverence to gods, brahmanas,
preceptors and men of knowledge; cleanliness, straight­
forwardness. life as Brahmacarin, and harmlessness, this is
called bodily penance. The speech which causes no disgust,
which is true, agreeable, and beneficial, and the study of the
Vedas, this is the vocal penance. Calmness of mind, mild­
ness, taciturnity, self-restraint and purity of heart, this is
called mental penance .”1 Thus the Gita seems not to have
been influenced by Buddhistic ideas.
When we look into Chapter XII of Manu's Book of
Law, we are struck by the close affinity between its ideas
and terminology and those of Buddhism. The Book of
Law, while explaining the ten varieties of the unmeritorious
act, says: “Coveting the property of others, evil thought and
vain attachment are the three acts of the m ind: harsh words,
false speech, malicious talk, and frivolous talk are four acts
of the tongue; stealing, killing, and intercourse with another
man’s wife are three acts of the body.” Again in verse 10,
the definition of tri-dandin. the mendicant with the triple
staff, is given in true Buddhist fashion. The person who
has been able to bring under control all the three violences
(dandas)2, vocal, mental and physical, is called the tri-dandin.
This fact is ample evidence of how Buddhism and Buddhist
ideas influenced ancient Hindu writers. Such cases of the
1. Gita, X V II, 14-16; S.B.E., V III, p. 110.
2. The term ‘danda' in this particular sense is characteristic of th e B ud­
dhists and th e Ja in a s; See Majjhirna I, p. 372 f.
borrowing of ideas can be multiplied.1

The Buddha as an Avatara

The idea that the Supreme Spirit manifests itself in various
forms developed into the conception of one god who could
be identified with all the other gods. This led to the theory
of Incarnation, Avatara, which exercised considerable in­
fluence on later Hinduism.- An Avatara is the god incar­
nated who acts like a human being but has the miraculous
powers of the god. Many Avataras are mentioned in the
Mahabharata and the Puranas. In the HarivamSa, for
instance, the Buddha is not included among the Avataras,
but is considered to be one in the Varahapurana, the Agni-
purana and the later Puranas. In any case the Buddha must
already have become an Avatara of Visnu before the time of
Gaudapada' (circa 725 A.D.), as can be surmised from the
way Gaudapada paid homage to his favourite god. In his
benedictory verse he uses certain epithets which suggest that
the Buddha is the object of his adoration. This can be the
only explanation, for Gaudapada was a staunch Advaitin.
Once the Buddha had been raised to the status of an
Incarnate Being, his followers gave him all the honours due
to a Hindu Incarnate God. They began to worship the
image of the Buddha for the same reasons as the Hindus,
namely, to stimulate feeling and meditation. It is now the
generally accepted view that the worship of idols among the
Hindus is as old as Panini (500—450 B.C.). But such
worship among the Buddhists could not have been as old;
for the Buddha never approved of the idea of installing his
image for worship save in stupas or similar monuments.
Even in such a late work as the Saddharma-pundarika, the
Buddha exhorts his disciples only to erect stupas or caityas,

1. E.g.y the verse : k&maj&nfai temulamy etc., is cited in the Grt&bhasya

of Sankara, VI, 4, and is also found in the Ud&navarga, II, 1. There are seve­
ral other verses th a t may be traced in the Mah&bh&rata and Buddhist works.
2. Vaiw avism , pp. 2, 41, 42.
3. According to Principal R. D. K arm arkar, his date is about 500 A .D .
but that the Buddhists in ancient India must have widely
worshipped the Buddha’s idol becomes clear from the re­
cent finds of images in different parts of India. Today, in
Ceylon, Burma, China and other Buddhist countries, people
worship the Buddha’s image in the same fashion as the
Hindus do in India, by offering flowers, food, cloth, incense
and prayers. In Ceylon, the last act in the making of an
image is the painting of the eyes, a magical rite as in India.
In Burma, the image is endowed with life in a ceremony
called pranapratistha, the giving of life. In China also, a
similar rite is observed by which the image is vivified into
godship.1

Social Reform
From the time the Buddhist upasakas were recognized
as regular members of the Buddhist community, the rigid
observance of caste rules was slackened amongst them as
among the monks. This change had a far reaching effect
on the Hindus. Some liberal thinkers among them, in fact,
began to devote their attention to the problem of social
reform with a view to improving the mutual relations of the
different communities within the Hindu fold. Some began
to attack vehemently the rigidities and the oppressiveness
of the caste system. A Tamil writer, Kapilar by name
(about 1100 A.D.), subjected it to very severe criticism.
Vemana, a Telugu writer, and Basava, a Kanaresc reformer,
both organized movements in opposition to caste observances.
The latter especially formed a Virasaiva sect known as the
Lingayats which completely disregarded the superiority and
the privileged position of the Brahmanas in society. The
later Vaisnavites, in particular the adherents of the Rama­
nuja sect, realized the need for relaxing caste observances
in religious festivals and worship in the temples.8 They
accepted in their Order people from all communities and
1. See. J. N. Farquhar, Crown of Hinduism, p. 323.
2. One can witness thiB fact in the temple of Jagannath a t Puri and in
other Vaisnava temples.
were thus able to spread Vaisnavism among the masses.
Similar ideas were advocated by later religious leaders
among whom the poet Kabir, Guru Nanak and others
figured most prominently. The fire was kept alive until
modern reformers started an organized crusade for the com­
plete abolition of caste distinctions. It will now be evident
how sagacious and far-sighted the Buddha was in his dec­
laration that religious life, as he saw it, must be open to
people of all classes.

Vegetarianism
The Buddha did not feel justified in prescribing a vege­
tarian diet for his disciples among the monks. What he did
was to advise them to avoid eating meat because animals
had to be slaughtered only to feed them. Clearly, he could
not possibly have insisted that his lay disciples should
adhere to a vegetarian diet.
It was Asoka who proclaimed throughout the length and
breadth of his vast empire the sanctity of animal life and
vigorously pursued his sacred mission to induce people to
abstain from killing animals wastcfully and on religious
grounds. This must strongly have influenced the Buddhist
community itself which then comprised both lay members
and monks. It is likely that after Asoka some reformed
Hindus and Jainas took up the cause and roused sympathy
in favour of the Asokan mission, thereby perhaps finally
bringing about the absolute prohibition of meat eating by
the Buddhist Church itself as has been recorded in the
Lankavatara-sDtra. Furthermore, three to four centuries
later there appeared on the scene King Harsa Vardhana.
No sooner did he ascend the throne than he issued a royal
decree to the effect that no one in his dominion was to eat
flesh. Another factor which accelerated the adoption of
vegetarianism was a later phase of the Bhakti cult preached
and practised by the great Vaisnava and Saiva saints. They
were devout believers in the doctrine that God was in every­
thing and everything in God so that they feared even to
tread the grass violently. The Mahayana Buddhist saints
also disparaged the cruel habit of slaughtering innocent
creatures solely in order to feed one’s own body, for they
believed that their own lives were worth living only in so
far as they fulfilled the wishes of other beings. Vegetarian
diet has come to stay in India, largely because of the constant
preaching and practice of these saints.
To sum up, in the words of Dr. S. Radhakrishnan1,
Buddhism has left a permanent mark on the culture of India.
Its influence is visible on all sides. The Hindu faith has
absorbed the best of its ethics. A new respect for life, kind­
ness to animals, a sense of responsibility and an endeavour
after higher life have been brought home to the Indian mind
with renewed force. Thanks to Buddhist influences, the
Brahmanical systems have shed those parts of their religion
which were irreconcilable with humanity and reason .2

P r i n c i p l e s o f T a n t r ic B u d d h i s m

Introductory
The general name of Tantric Buddhism is given to the
later aspects of Buddhism in India, i.e., to Mantrayana,
Vajrayana or Sahajayana. The importance given by the
Yogacara school to vijnana and its cultivation gradually led
to several esoteric developments in Buddhism. Mantras,
dharanis, and diagrams in the form of circles (m andalas)
and triangles began to assume increasing importance for a
yogin. These mantras were supposed to possess great magical
powers and have their counterparts in the parittas in
Pali literature, which were supposed to protect the reciters

1. Indian Philosophy, I, p. 608 f.

2. In a later H indu work, the following are also prohibited :
(1) the killing of cows for sacrifices;
(2) the killing of horses;
(3) self-torturing austerities;
(4) the use of flesh in the sacrificial feasts in th e name of ancestors;
and
(5) m arrying the widow of a deceased brother.
against all evil. Once the esoteric element was introduced
into Buddhism, it was found necessary to restrict that ele­
ment to a small inner group of “initiates” , and in order to
maintain continuity it was also necessary to introduce the
institution of Master and Pupil (Guru and Cela).
In order to preserve its secret nature, they also had to use
a language of symbolism which only the “initiates” could
understand. To the common people the words carried an
altogether different meaning. Unfortunately, a language of
double interpretation was used by the writers of this school,
as a sort of ‘shock-therapy’. The apparent meaning of
these words gave a shock to common people, but to the
“initiates” they carried an altogether different meaning.
The popular mind took these words at their face value and
thus a great misunderstanding has arisen about the followers
of the Tantric school and their practices.
Another feature of this later form of Buddhism is that it
believed in a large number of gods and goddesses by whose
favours the devotees were expected to attain siddhi or per­
fection. The Buddha is often represented as silting in the
company of a large number of goddesses.
Allied to this branch of esoteric Buddhism, there is a still
later phase of Vajrayana which, apart from the original prin­
ciples on which the purer or brighter side was based, became
mixed up with popular cults and assumed, among the lower
classes of society, a darker and objectionable form. Corrupt
practices like the use of five ma-karas, i.e., words beginning
with the letter ‘m a\ such as madya (wine), mamsa (flesh),
matsya (fish), mudra (woman) and maithuna (sexual inter­
course), were encouraged and practised even by men who
were supposed to be leading a religious life. In Vajrayana
works like the Sri-samaja (also called the Guhya-samaja), the
Sadhana-mala, the Jnana-siddhi, etc., we find that the violation
of those very five rules, which formed the basis of Buddhist
Discipline, is recommended. For instance, in the Guhya-
samaja1, murder, falsehood, theft and intercourse with
1. p. 120,
women are recommended. Can the Buddha ever be imagined
to have sanctioned such things?
Nevertheless, this cult gained very wide currency in the
eastern parts of India. Vikramasila was a centre of Tantric
learning which gradually spread to Bengal, Assam and
Orissa.' All sane people revolted against these corrupt prac­
tices which contributed in no small measure to the decline
of Buddhism. (General Editor.)

Among all the aspects of Buddhism, its Tantric teachings

have until now been the most neglected and misunderstood.
The Tantras against which accusations have been hurled
originated mostly from the decadent forms of late Hindu tra­
dition and the malpractices which they gave rise to among
the ignorant. The prejudice, which in this way grew
against everything Tantric, was so strong that even scholars
refused to have anything to do with it, and consequently any
impartial investigation or research was neglected for a long
time.
The first European scholar who had the courage to reha­
bilitate the Tantras, especially the Hindu Tantras of the
Kundalini-Yoga, was Sir John Woodroffe, who published his
famous series of works on Tantric texts and philosophy
under the pseudonym of Arthur Avalon. In his foreword to
the Srlcakrasambhara Tantra, he says: “The ignorant . . .
envisage spiritual truths so grossly that they come to be called
superstition. All evil and ignorance is so much by its
nature on the surface and affords so apt a subject for averse
judgment that it is readily seized upon, and the more so that
it is convenient material for religious polemic. Neverthe­
less I repeat that we must do credit both to our intelligence
and sense of justice by endeavouring to understand any
religion in its highest and truest aspect.”2

1. 8 e eB . BhattanharyH , tiadhaiiatrulldyii, xx xvi-xxxix and lv; M anindra

Mohan B ob©, Poet-Caitanya Sahajia Cult of Bengal, Chapter I I I , pp 134-42.
2. P . vii.
 Even Avalon, however, was under the impression that
the Buddhist Tantras were merely an off-shoot of the Hindu
Tantras, and that the texts, upon which his investigations
were based, represented the original principles of the Tantras.
This view was justified as long as the Tibetan Tantric scrip­
tures were comparatively unknown and unexplored, because
even those few texts which were available in translation were
far from being understood in their spiritual, historical, and
practical significance.
The reason for this was the fact that these scriptures can­
not be understood merely philologically, but only from the
point of view of yogic experience, which cannot be learned
from books. Moreover, those books, from which informa­
tion was sought, were written in a peculiar idiom, a language
of symbols and secret conventions, which in Sanskrit was
called Saridhyabhasa (literally “ twilight language”, because
of the double meaning which underlay its words).
This symbolic language was not only a protection against
intellectual curiosity and misuse of yogic practices by the
ignorant or the uninitiated, but had its origin mainly in the
fact that the ordinary language is not able to express the
highest experiences of the mind. The indescribable, which
is experienced by the Sadhaka, the true devotee, can only be
hinted at by similes and paradoxes.
We find a similar attitude in the Chinese C han and the
Japanese Zen Buddhism, which in fact have much in common
with the mediaeval Buddhist mystics, the so-called Siddhas,
who flourished in India between the seventh and the eleventh
centuries A.D. and were the main propagators of the Tantric
teachings of the Vajrayana. Their numerous mystic and
poetical works were almost completely destroyed in the
country of their origin when northern India was overrun by
the Muslim invaders. Fortunately, a great many of their
works, as well as the bulk of Tantric literature that had deve­
loped up to that time, have been preserved in Tibet in faith­
ful translations, together with the living tradition of yogic
and meditative practice, which was handed down through
 generations from Guru to Cela.
In India, however, the Tantric tradition went “under­
ground” and lingered mainly in the lower strata of society,
where it became mixed up with various popular cults and
finally deteriorated into superstition, which discredited both
the Buddhist and the genuine Hindu Tantras. These latter
were built upon ancient yoga practices which apparently had
been remoulded under the influence of Tantric Buddhism.
The influence of Tantric Buddhism upon Hinduism was
so profound, that up to the present day the majority of West­
ern scholars labour under the impression that Tantrism is a
Hinduistic creation which was taken over later by more or
less decadent Buddhist schools.
Against this view speaks the great antiquity and consis­
tent development of Tantric tendencies in Buddhism. Al­
ready the early Mahasahghikas had a special collection of
mantric formulas in their Dharani-pitaka; and the ManjuSri-
mulakalpa, which according to some authorities goes back to
the first century A.D., contains not only mantras and dhara-
nis, but numerous mandalas and mudras as well. Even if
the dating of the Manjusri-mulakalpa is somewhat uncertain,
it seems probable that the Buddhist Tantric system had crys­
tallized into a definite form by the end of the third century
A.D.. as we see from the well-known Guhya-samaja (Tib.
dpal-gsang-hdus-pa) Tantra.
To declare Buddhist Tantrism as an off-shoot of S>aivaism
is only possible for those who have no first-hand knowledge
of Tantric literature. A comparison of the Hindu Tantras
with those of Buddhism (which are mostly preserved in Tibe­
tan and which therefore for long remained unnoticed by
Indologists) not only shows an astonishing divergence of
methods and aims, in spite of external similarities, but proves
the spiritual and historical priority and originality of the Bud­
dhist/ Tantras.
Sankaracarya, the great Hindu philosopher of the 9th cen­
tury A.D., whose works form the foundation of all ^aivaite
philosophy, made use of the ideas of Nagarjuna and his fol­
lowers to such an extent that orthodox Hindus suspected
him of being a secret devotee of Buddhism. In a similar way
the Hindu Tantras, too, took over the methods and principles
of Buddhist Tantrism and adapted them to their own pur­
poses (much as the Buddhists had adapted the age-old prin­
ciples and techniques of yoga to their own systems of medi­
tation). This view is not only held by Tibetan tradition and
confirmed by a study of its literature, but has also been
verified by Indian scholars after a critical investigation of the
earliest Sanskrit texts of Tantric Buddhism and their histori­
cal and ideological relationship with the Hindu Tantras.
Thus Benoytosh Bhattacharya, in his Introduction to
Buddhist Esoterism, has come to the conclusion that “it is
possible to declare, without fear of contradiction, that the
Buddhists were the first to introduce the Tantras into their
religion, and that the Hindus borrowed them from the Bud­
dhists in later times, and that it is idle to say that later Bud­
dhism was an outcome of Saivaism”.1
One of the main propagators of this mistaken idea, which
was built upon the superficial similarities of Hindu and Bud­
dhist Tantras, was Austin Waddell who is often quoted as
an authority on Tibetan Buddhism. In his estimation Bud­
dhist Tantrism is nothing but Saivaite idolatry, Sakti worship
and demonology. Its “so-called mantras and dharanis” are
“meaningless gibberish,” “its mysticism a silly mummery of
unmeaning jargon and ‘magic circles’ ”, and its yoga a “para­
site whose monster outgrowth crushed and cankered most of
the little life of purely Buddhist stock yet left in the Maha­
yana”2. “The Madhyamika doctrine was essentially a
sophistic nihilism”,5 “the Kala-cakra unworthy of being con­
sidered a philosophy” 4.
As it was mainly from such ‘authorities’ that the West re­
ceived its first knowledge of Tibetan Buddhism, it is no won-

1. P. 147.
2. Buddhism of Tibet or Lamaism, p. 14.
3. Ibid., p. 11.
4. Ibid., p. 131.
 der that up to the present day numerous prejudices against
Buddhist Tantrism are firmly entrenched in the Western mind
as well as in the minds of those who have approached the
subject through Western literature.
To judge Buddhist Tantric teachings and symbols from
the standpoint of Hindu Tantras. and especially from the
principles of £aktism is not only inadequate but thoroughly
misleading, because both systems start from entirely different
premises. Although both make use of the methods of yoga
and of similar technical and philosophical terms, there is lit­
tle justification for declaring Buddhism to be identical with
Brahmanism and therefore in interpreting the Buddhist
Tantras in the light of the Hindu Tantras. or vice versa.
Nobody would accuse the Buddha of corrupting his doc­
trine by accepting the gods of Hindu mythology as a back­
ground for his teachings or by using them as symbols of cer­
tain forces or meditative experiences or as the exponents of
higher states of consciousness; if the Tantras. however, follow
a similar course, they are accused of being corrupters of
genuine Buddhism.
It is impossible to understand any religious movement
unless we approach it in a spirit of humility and reverence,
which is the hall-mark of all great scholars and pioneers of
learning. We therefore have to see the various forms of ex­
pression in their genetic connections and against the spiritual
background from which they developed into their particular
systems before we start comparing them with similar features
in other systems. In fact, the very things which appear simi­
lar on the surface are very often just those in which the sys­
tems differ most fundamentally. The step that leads upwards
in one connection may well lead downwards in another one.
Therefore, philological derivations and iconographical com­
parisons, valuable though they may be in other respects, arc
not adequate here.
We completely agree with Bhattacharya when he says:
“The Buddhist Tantras in outward appearance resemble the
Hindu Tantras to a marked degree but in reality there is very
little similarity between them, either in subject matter or in
philosophical doctrines inculcated in them, or in religious
principles. This is not to be wondered at, since the aims
and objects of the Buddhists are widely different from those
of the Hindus .”1
* The main difference ist that Buddhist Tantrism is not
Saktism. The concept of Sakti, of divine power, of the crea­
tive female aspect of the highest God (3iva) or his emanations
does not play any role in Buddhism, while in the Hindu
Tantras, the concept of power (^akti) forms the focus of in­
terest. The central idea of Tantric Buddhism, however, is
prajna (knowledge, wisdom).
To the Buddhist, Sakti is maya, the very power that
creates illusion, from which only prajna can liberate us. It
is, therefore, not the aim of the Buddhist to acquire power,
or to join himself to the powers of the universe, either to be­
come their instrument or to become their master, but, on the
contrary, he tries to free himself from those powers, which
for aeons kept him a prisoner of samsara. He strives to per­
ceive those powers, which have kept him going in the rounds
of life and death, in order to liberate himself from their
dominion. However, he does not try to negate them or to
destroy them, but to transform them in the fire of knowledge,
so that they may become forces of enlightenment which,
instead of creating further differentiation, flow in the oppo­
site direction: towards union, towards wholeness, towards
completeness.
The attitude of the Hindu Tantras is quite different, if not
contrary. “United with the Sakti, be full of power”, says
the Kula-cudamani Tantra. “ From the union of Siva and
!>akti the world is created.” The Buddhist, on the other
hand, does not want the creation and unfoldment of the
world, but the coming back to the “ uncreated, unformed”
state of Sunyata, from which all creation proceeds, or which
is prior to and beyond all creation (if one may put the
inexpressible into human language).
I. Introduction to Buddhist Esoterimi, p. 47.
 The becoming conscious of this Sunyata (Tib. stong-pa-
nyid) is prajna (Tib. shes-rab), or highest knowledge. The
realization of this highest knowledge in life is enlightenment
(bodhi; Tib. byang-chhub). i.e., if prajna (or Sunyata), the pas­
sive, all embracing female principle, from which everything
proceeds and into which everything recedes, is united with
the dynamic male principle of active universal love and com­
passion, which represents the means (upaya; Tib. thabs) for
the realization of prajna and sunyata, then perfect Buddha-
hood is attained. Intellect without feeling, knowledge
without love, and reason without compassion lead to pure
negation, to rigidity, to spiritual death, to mere vacuity, while
feeling without reason, love without knowledge (blind love>,
compassion without understanding, lead to confusion and dis­
solution; but where both are united, where the great synthesis
of heart and head, feeling and intellect, highest love and
deepest knowledge have taken place, completeness is re­
established, and perfect enlightenment is attained.
The process of enlightenment is therefore represented by
the most obvious, the most human and at the same time the
most universal symbol imaginable: the union of male and
female in the ecstacy of love, in which the active element
(upaya) is represented as a male, the passive (prajna) by a
female figure, in contrast to the Hindu Tantras, in which the
female aspect is represented as Sakti, i.e., the active principle,
and the male aspect as 5>iva, the pure state of divine con­
sciousness or ‘being’, i.e., the passive principle, or the ‘resting
in its own nature’.
In Buddhist symbolism, the Knovyer (Buddha) becomes
one with his knowledge (prajna), just as man and wife be­
come one in the embrace of love, and this becoming one is
the highest indescribable happiness, mahasukha (Tib. bde-
mchhog). The Dhyani Buddhas (i.e., the ideal Buddhas
visualized in meditation) and the Dhyani Bodhisattvas, as
embodiments of the active urge of enlightenment which finds
its expression in upaya, the all-embracing love and compas­
sion, are therefore represented in the embrace of their prajfia,
 symbolized by a female deity, the embodiment of highest
knowledge.
This is not the arbitrary reversal of Hindu symbology, in
which “the poles of the male and the female as symbols of
the divine and its unfoldment have to be exchanged appa­
rently, as otherwise the gender of the concepts which they
were intended to embody in Buddhism would not have been
in harmony with them”1, but the consequent application of
a principle which is of fundamental importance for the entire
Buddhist Tantric system.
In a similar way the Hindu Tantras are an equally con­
sistent application of the fundamental ideas of Hinduism,
even though they have taken over Buddhist methods wher­
ever they suited their purpose. But the same method, when
applied from two opposite standpoints, must necessarily lead
to opposite results. There is no need to resort to such super­
ficial reasons as the necessity to comply with the grammatical
gender of prajna (feminine) and upaya (masculine).
Such reasoning, however, was only the consequence of
the wrong presupposition that the Buddhist Tantras were an
imitation of the Hindu Tantras, and the sooner we can free
ourselves from this prejudice, the clearer it will become that
the concept of Sakti has no place in Buddhism.
Just as the Theravadin would be shocked if the term
anatta (Skt. anatman) were turned into its opposite and were
rendered by the Brahmanical term atman or were explained
in such a way as to show that the Theravadin accepted the
atman idea (since Buddhism was only a variation of Brah­
manism!), so the Tibetan Buddhist would be shocked by the
misinterpretation of his religious tradition by the Hindu term
Sakti, which is never used in his scriptures and which means
exactly the opposite of what he wants to express by the term
prajna or by the female counterparts of the Dhyani Buddhas
and Bodhisattvas.
One cannot arbitrarily transplant the termini of a theistic
system, centred round the idea of a God Creator, into a non-
1. H. Zimmer, Kunstform und Yoga im induchen Kultbild, p. 75.
theistic system which emphatically and fundamentally denies
the notion of a God Creator. From such a confusion of ter­
minology arises the mistaken idea that the Adibuddha of the
later Tantras is nothing but another version of the God
Creator, which would be a complete reversal of the Buddhist
point of view. The Adibuddha, however, is the symbol of
the universality, timelessness and completeness of the
enlightened mind, or as Guenther puts it more forcefully:
“The statement that the universe or man is the Adibuddha is
but an inadequate verbalization of an all-comprehensive ex­
perience. The Adibuddha is assuredly not a God who plays
dice with the world in order to pass away his time. He is
not a sort of monotheism either superimposed on an earlier,
allegedly atheistic Buddhism. Such notions are the errors of
professional semanticists. Buddhism has no taste for theori­
zation. It attempts to delve into the secret depths of our in­
most being and to make the hidden light shine forth brilliant­
ly. Therefore the Adibuddha is best translated as the un­
folding of man's true nature .”1
By confusing Buddhist Tantrism with the Saktism of the
Hindu Tantras, a basic misconception has been created, which
up to the present day has prevented a clear understanding of
the Vajrayana and its symbolism, in iconography as well as
in literature, especially that of the Siddhas. The latter used
a particular form of symbology, in which very often the high­
est was clothed in the form of the lowest, the most sacred in
the form of the most ordinary, the transcendent in the form
of the most earthly, and deepest knowledge in the form of
the most grotesque paradoxes. It was not only a language
for initiates, but a kind of shock therapy, which has become
necessary on account of the over-intellectualization of the
religious and philosophical life of those times.
Just as the Buddha rebelled against the narrow dogmatism
of a privileged priestly class, so did the Siddhas rebel against

1. Yuganaddha, the Tantric View of Life, H. V. G uenther "howkhamba

Sanskrit Series, Banaras 1952), p. 187.
the self-complacency of a sheltered monastic existence that
had lost contact with the realities of life. Their language was
as unconventional as their lives, and those who took their
words literally were either misled into striving after magic
powers and worldly happiness or were repelled by what
appeared to them to be blasphemy. It is therefore not surpris­
ing that after the disappearance of the Buddhist tradition in
India, this literature fell into oblivion or degenerated into the
crude erotic cults of popular Tantrism.
Nothing could be more misleading than to draw inferences
about the spiritual attitude of the Buddhist Tantras (or of
genuine Hindu Tantras) from these degenerated forms of
Tantrism. The former cannot be fathomed theoretically,
i.e., through comparisons or the study of ancient literature,
but only through practical experience or actual contact with
the still existing Tantric traditions and their contemplative
methods, as practised in Tibet and Mongolia, as well as in
certain schools of Japan, like the Shingon and the Tendai.
With regard to the latter two, Glasenapp remarks: “The
female Bodhisattvas figuring in the mandalas, like Prajiia-
paramita and Cundi, are sexless beings from whom, quite in
accordance with the ancient tradition, associations of a sexual
nature are strictly excluded. In this respect these schools
differ from those known to us from Bengal, Nepal and Tibet,
which emphasize the polarity of the male and female prin­
ciples.”1
The fact that Bengal, Nepal, and Tibet are mentioned here
side by side shows that the Tantrism of Bengal and Nepal is
regarded to be of the same nature as that of Tibet, and that
the author, though seeing the necessity of distinguishing be­
tween Tantrism and £aktism, has not yet drawn the last con­
clusion, namely, that even those Buddhist Tantras which
built their symbolism upon the polarity of the male ajid the
female, never represent the female principle as Sakti, but al­

1. H . V. Glasenapp, Die Rntstehung de* Vajrayat>ay Zeitschr. d. deutsch

rnorgenl&nd. Gesellsehaft, Vol. 90, p. 560, Leipzig, 1936.
ways as its contrary—prajfia (wisdom), vidya (knowledge), or
taudra (the spiritual attitude of unification, the realization of
Sunyata). Herewith they reject the basic idea of 5>aktism and
its world-creating eroticism.
Though the polarity of male and female principles is re­
cognized in the Tantras of the Vajrayana and is an important
feature of its symbolism, it is raised upon a plane which is
as far away from the sphere of mere sexuality as the mathe­
matical juxtaposition of positive and negative signs, which is
as valid in the realm of irrational values as in that of rational
or concrete concepts.
In Tibet the male and female Dhyani Buddhas and Bodhi­
sattvas are regarded as little as “sexual beings” as in the
above-mentioned schools of Japan; and to the Tibetan even
their aspect of union (Skt. Yuganaddha; Tib. yabyum) is in­
dissolubly associated with the highest spiritual reality in the
process of enlightenment, so that associations with the realm
of physical sexuality are completely ignored.
We must not forget that the figural representations of these
symbols are not looked upon as portraying human beings, but
as embodying the experiences and visions of meditation. In
such a state, however, there is nothing more that could be
called ‘sexual’; there is only the super-individual polarity of
all life, which rules all mental and physical activities, and
which is transcended only in the ultimate state of integration,
in the realization of sunyata. This is the state which is called
mahamudra (Tib. phyag-rgya-chhen-po), the “Great Attitude”
or “the Great Symbol”, which has given its name to one of
the most important systems of meditation in Tibet.
In the earlier forms of Indian Buddhist Tantrism, Maha­
mudra was represented as the ‘eternal female’ principle, as
may be seen from Advayavajra’s definition: “The words
‘great* and ‘mudra’ together form the term ‘mahamudra’. She
is not something (niljSvabhava); she is free from the veils
which cover the cognizable object and so on; she shines forth
like the serene -sky at noon during autumn; she is the support
of all success; she is the identity of sarpsara and nirvana; her
 body is compassion (karuna) which is not restricted to a sin­
gle object; she is the uniqueness of Great Bliss (mahasukhai-
karupa ).” 1
If in one of the most controversial passages of Anafi-
gavajra’s Prajnopaya-viniscaya-siddhP it is said that all
women should be enjoyed by the sadhaka in order to ex­
perience the mahamudra, it is clear that this cannot be under­
stood in the physical sense, but that it can only be applied
to that higher form of love which is not restricted to a single
object and which is able to see all ‘female’ qualities, whether
in ourselves or in others as those of the Divine Mother
(prajna-paramita or transcendental wisdom).
Another passage, which by its very grotesqueness proves
that it is meant to be a paradox and is not to be taken
literally states that “the sadhaka who has sexual intercourse
with his mother, his sister, his daughter, and his sister's
daughter, will easily succeed in his striving for the ultimate
goal Uattva-yoga)”.1
To take expressions like 'mother', 'sister", 'daughter' or
‘sister s daughter' literally in this connection is as senseless
as taking literally the well-known Dhammapada verse (No.
294). which says that, after having killed father and mother
and two Ksattriya kings, and having destroyed a king­
dom with all its inhabitants, the Brahmana remains free from
sin. Here ‘father and mother' stands for 'egoism and crav­
ing' (Pali: asmimdna and tanhd), the ‘two kings’ for the erro­
neous views of annihilation or eternal existence (uccheda va
sassata-ditthi), the 'kingdom and its inhabitants’ for ‘the
twelve spheres of consciousness’ (dvadasayatnani) and the
Brahmana for the liberated monk (bhikkhu).
To maintain that Tantric Buddhists actually encouraged
incest and licentiousness is as ridiculous as accusing the The-

]. Advayavajra, Caturmudrfi, p. 34, quoted in Yuganaddha.

2. Prajftopftya-vintecaya-siddhi in Two Vajrayana Works, Gaikwa^
Oriental Series, No. X LIV , p. 22.
3. Anafigavajra, Prajflopaya-vini^caya-siddhi, V, 25, quoted in Yu0a^
naddha, p. 106. A similar statem ent is found in the Guhya-samaja Tantra.
 ravadins of condoning matricide and patricide and similar
heinous crimes. If we only take the trouble to investigate
the living tradition of the Tantras in their genuine, unadul­
terated forms, as they exist up to the present day in thousands
of monasteries and hermitages of Tibet, where the ideals of
sense-control and renunciation are held in the highest esteem,
then only can we realize how ill founded and worthless are
the current theories which try to drag the Tantras into the
realm of sensuality.
From the point of view of the Tibetan Tantric tradition,
the above-mentioned passages can only be meaningful in the
context of yoga terminology.
‘All women in the world’ signifies all the elements which
make up the female principles of our psycho-physical perso­
nality which, as the Buddha says, represents what is called
‘the world’. To these principles correspond, on the opposite
side, an equal number of male principles. Four of the female
principles form a special group, representing the vital forces
(prana) of the Great Elements (mahabhuta), Earth, Water,
Fire, Air, and their corresponding psychic centres (cakra)
or planes of consciousness within the human body. In each
of them the union of male and female principles must take
place, before the fifth and highest stage is reached. If the ex­
pressions ‘mother’, ‘sister’, ‘daughter’, etc., are applied to the
forces of these fundamental qualities of the mahabhutas, the
meaning of the symbolism becomes clear.
In other words, instead of seeking union with a woman
outside ourselves, we have to seek it within ourselves (“in
our own family”) by the union of our male and female nature
in the process of meditation. This is clearly stated in Tilop&’s
famous Six Doctrines (Tib. chos drug bsdus-pahi hzin-bris),
upon which the most important yoga method of the Karg-
yutpa school is based, a method which was practised by Mila-
repa, the most saintly and austere of all the great masters of
meditation (whom certainly nobody could accuse of ‘sexual
practices’). Though we cannot here go into the details of
this yoga, a short quotation may suffice to prove our point.
“ The vital force of the Five Aggregates (Tib. phung-po;
Skt. skandha) in its real nature, pertaineth to the masculine
aspect of the Buddha-principle manifesting through the left
psychic nerve (Tib. kyang-ma rtsa; Skt. ida-nadl). The vital
force of the Five Elements (Tib. hbyung-ba; Skt. dhatu), in
its real nature, pertaineth to the feminine aspect of the Bud­
dha-principle manifesting through the right psychic-nerve (Tib.
ro-ma rtsa; Skt. pingala-na^I). As the vital force with these
two aspects of it in union, descendeth into the median nerve
(Tib. dbu-ma rtsa; Skt. susumna) gradually there cometh the
realization . . .” and one attains the transcendental boon
of the Great Symbol (mahamudra)', the union of the male
and female principles (as upaya and prajfia) in the highest
state of Buddhahood.
Thus, only if we are able to see the relationship of body
and mind, of physical and spiritual interaction in a universal
perspective, and if in this way we overcome the “I” and
“mine” and the whole structure of egocentric feelings, opi­
nions, and prejudices which produce the illusion of our sepa­
rate individuality, then only can we rise into the sphere of
Buddhahood.
In this sense, the Buddhist Tantras are not only the legi­
timate heirs of the Vijnanavadins and Yogacarins, but the
logical outcome and ultimate consequence of the central idea
of Buddhism which consists in the Law of Dependent Origi­
nation. Though the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold
Path form the framework of the Buddha’s teachings, they are
generalizations which do not constitute anything exclusively
Buddhistic. The fact of suffering and the certainty that
suffering can be overcome by the extinction of desire based
on egoism was common ground in Indian religious thought
and is taught by other religions as well. The Eightfold
Path, too, reiterates what every Indian devotee believes, and
what may be regarded as common ground of all religious-
minded people, irrespective of their particular faith.
But in what Buddhism distinguishes itself from all other
1 W. V, Evans-W intz, Tibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrines, p. 200 ff.
 religions, in what its uniqueness consists, is the idea that the
world is neither governed by a God Creator nor by blind
chance, but by the law of spiritual and material inter-related-
ness which is neither simple causality nor metaphysical deter­
minism, but the law of Dependent Origination (pratitya-samut-
pada). This law is more than a number of rigidly fixed
sequences of causes and effects, in which form it has been
popularized for the convenience of those who want to see
it applied to the exigencies of individual human life (or to
establish the working of individual karma)—it is the idea
that nothing exists in itself or by itself as a separate unit,
either in time or in space, but is dependent on a variety of
conditions and related to everything else in the world, so that
we can neither speak of ‘existence’ nor of ‘non-existence’,
neither of ‘being’ nor of ‘not-being’ with regard to any form
of life.
Therefore, it is said in the Samyutta-nikaya, II, 17: “This
world, O Kaccana, is addicted to dualism, to the ‘it is’ and
to the ‘it is not’. He who perceives in truth and wisdom how
things arise in the world, for him there is no ‘it Is not’ in the
world. And O Kaccana, he who perceives in truth and wis­
dom how things in the world pass away, for him there is no
‘it is’ in the world.”
It is from this position that the Buddha’s doctrine of
anatman is to be understood. Therefore, when Asvajit was
asked to sum up the Buddha’s teaching in a single sentence, he
did not mention the Four Noble Truths or the Eightfold
Path, but the pratitya-samutpada in its most fundamental
aspect. And when again the Wheel of the Law was set in
motion by Nagarjuna, the revitalization of Buddhism was
based upon the pratitya-samutpada in the opening verse of
his Mulamadhyamaka-karika, in which he says:

Anirodham anutpadam anucchedam asasvatam

ane kart ham andn&rtham anagamam anirgamam
yah pratityasamutpddam prapancopasamam sivam
desayamdsa sambuddhas tarn vande vadatam varam
 Without destruction and without origination, without
being cut off and without being eternal,
Neither being one thing, nor different things, neither
coming nor going,
He who can thus teach the Dependent Origination,
the blissful coming to rest of all illusory
unfoldment,
Before Him, the Enlightened One, the best of all
teachers,
I reverently bow down.

The term prapanca, ‘illusory unfoldment or differentia­

tion’ (or ‘conceptually differentiated reality’), is a synonym for
maya, the illusion caused by the blind world-creating power
(Sakti). It is this power that leads us deeper and deeper into
the realm of becoming, of birth and death, of matter and
differentiation, unless it is countered or reversed by prajna, or
wisdom born of profound insight into the nature of the
world, through insight into ourselves and the realization of
enlightenment Within our own mind, because the nature of
the world is not different from our own nature. The inner
and outer world are only the two sides of the same
fabric, in which the threads of all forces and events, of all
forms of consciousness and all objects are woven into one.
This idea has never been expressed more forcefully and
completely than in the Buddhist Tantras. The word tantra
itself is related to the concept of weaving (the dictionary gives
“loom, thread, web, fabric” as synonyms), hinting at the inter*
wovenness of things and actions, the interdependence of all
that exists, the continuity in the interaction of cause and
effect, as well as in traditional development, which like a
thread weaves its way through the fabric of history and of
individual lives. The term ‘tantra’ (Tib. rgyud) therefore
can also stand for tradition, spiritual continuity or succession.
The scriptures, however, which in Buddhism go by the
title of Tantra, are invariably of a mystic nature and try to
establish the inner relationship of things by way of spiritual
 exercises, in which yantra, mantra, and mudra, the parallel­
ism of the visible, the audible, and the touchable, unite the
powers of mind (citta), speech (vak), and body (kaya), in
order to realize the final state of completeness and enlighten­
ment.1
Thus in applying the words of Guru Gampopa, it may be
said that the Buddhist Tantras represent “a philosophy com­
prehensive enough to embrace the whole of knowledge, a
system of meditation which will produce the power of concen­
trating the mind upon anything whatsoever, and an art of
living which will enable one to utilize each activity (of body,
speech, and mind) as an aid on the Path of Liberation*’.2

M a n t r a y a n a a n d S a h a ja y a n a

From among the many branches of Buddhism, Mantra­

yana and Sahajayana are the least known. Generally one is
of the opinion that they are late developments. Mantras,
however, are already found in certain passages of the old
Pali Canon, as for instance, in the Atanatiya-sutta. Although
it is difficult to ascertain the role of mantras in the earlier
phases of Buddhism, it may safely be assumed that because
of the antiquity of the mantras the essentials of Mantrayana
for a long time developed along lines parallel with the more
intellectual schools of Buddhism and were systematically
codified and called a yana or ‘a career’ only later. Mantra­
yana and Sahajayana deal primarily with the psychologically
effective aspects of spiritual development. Their instructions
are of a highly individual character and their contents must
be grasped with the immediacy of experience, which accounts
for the difficulty these two aspects of Buddhism present to an
understanding which is accustomed to comprehend things
1. The very fact that the term tantra in Hinduism is used indiscrimi­
nately for all sorts of literature, while in Buddhism it is exclusively applied
to works representing t&ntric principles, is another proot of th e priority o f
th e Buddhist Tantras.
2. From The Twelve Indispensable Things by Guru Gampopa. CJ. E vans-
W enta, Tibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrines, p. 79.
only in terms of their verbally designated relations to each
other.
What then is Mantrayana and what are its tenets? A
clear account of the subject can be found in Padma-dkar-po’s
numerous scholarly works. From his account it is evident
that Mantrayana aims at achieving what the other branches
of Buddhism also claim to deal with, namely, the integration
of the human being, enlightenment or spiritual maturity.
However, the methods are vastly different. While the attain­
ment of spiritual maturity depends solely on the efforts of
the individual and is in itself incommunicable, certain preli­
minary rites are necessary in order to facilitate the process
of integration. The first step is ‘taking refuge and the
formation of an attitude directed toward enlightenment
(bodhicitta) as a means to making the individual fit for his
task’. Refuge is taken in the Three Jewels, the Buddha, the
Dharma, and the Sangha, but they are no longer concrete per­
sons and scriptures but, it may be said, spiritual forces sym­
bolically represented by the Three Jewels. This taking of re­
fuge is intimately connected with the resolve to attain
enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings and this re­
solve furthers the change of attitude, where the aspirant con­
sciously turns away from the directness of ordinary intellec­
tual reasoning and begins to see himself and the world around
him from an intuitive standpoint. The next step is to
strengthen and to develop this new attitude and in this medi­
tative process the recitation of mantras plays an important
part ‘as the means to remove the opposing conditions, the
veiling power of evil’. The mantra is by definition ‘a pro­
tection of mind’, that is, a formula which prevents the mind
from going astray and therefore a positive help in meditative
concentration. It is a well-known fact that the human mind
is not only influenced by the images within and without but
also by words. The power of words is all the more effective
when such words or even mere syllables resist any attempt to
be reduced to mere concepts of intellection. Although the
mantras have a definite relation to the energetic processes
 they symbolize, the use of a particular mantra depends on
the aspirant’s personality and the spiritual discipline which
suits him. It is this factor that has been most scientifically
developed in Mantrayana. After this comes the offering of
a mandala ‘as the means to perfect the prerequisites of
merits and knowledge’. Modern depth psychology has
rediscovered the intrinsic value of the mandala for the pro­
cess of integration. Buddhism here again goes far beyond
the findings of modem psychology and deals with the prob­
lem more exhaustively, in that it does not separate and
isolate man from his context, this context being the whole
universe and not a mere socially accepted pattern. Each
step in the preparation of the mandala corresponds to one
of the six perfections (paramita). liberality, ethics, patience,
strenuousness, meditative concentration, and appreciative
analytical understanding. This means that the construction
of a mandala has a practical value since it affects the indi­
vidual in his behaviour (carya). As in the other forms
of Mahayana, Mantrayana is strongly opposed to escapism
and posits a positive aim and ideal (bodhi) against a nega­
tive one (nirodha). All this is. as it were, preparatory to
the last phase, the guru-yoga, as ‘the means to have the all-
sustaining power of reality settled on one’s self’. By the
guru-yoga one realizes the indivisible unity of one’s self with
the ultimate reality. The guru-yoga is a most exclusive
discipline and its methods are intricate. Although, in the
ultimate sense, the guru is reality itself and although reality
is found in everything and not in a fancied ‘absolute’ of
dubious validity, without the help of a human guru, who
himself has practised this yoga and hence is able to guide
the aspirant on his difficult path, the message of Mantrayana
remains a sealed book.
Closely related to Mantrayana is Sahajayana. What
does sahaja mean? The literal meaning is ‘to be born
together’, but what is it that is born together? The
classical answer has been given by Zla-od-gzhon-nu, alias
Dvags-po-lha-rje, the most gifted disciple of the Tibetan
scholar and saint Mi-la-ras-pa. He explains that it is the
ultimate in Mind or the dharmakaya and the ultimate in
Appearance or the light of the dharmakaya which are born
together. Appearance and Mind are therefore indivisibly
born together. What he wants to say is that Reality and
Appearance are not separated from each other by an un­
bridgeable gulf, but are identical. This identity means
that Reality is one and indivisible and is split up arbitrarily
into a number of opposites only by the analytical methods
and techniques of the intellect. Hence, the identity of
Reality and Appearance can be realized and experienced
only by intuitive processes, and it is absolutely wrong and
misleading to conceive of this identity as a postulationally
proposed hypothesis. In order to achieve this realization, a
course of meditation has been developed which is based on
direct experience and takes cognizance of the fact that
intellectual operations are inseparable from their emotional
concomitants. The dichotomizing activity of the mind
fvikalpa) is accompanied and even supported by conflicting
emotions (klesa), which has an obscuring influence (moha,
andhakara). This turbulent state of mind can be remedied
by meditative practices. The quietude, which, as has
to be borne in mind, is not achieved by repression but by an
understanding of the psychological processes, is the first
glimpse of what forms a solid basis for further spiritual
development or the viewpoint from which one can safely,
proceed onwards. This viewpoint is technically known as
‘happiness, lustre, and non-dichotomizing thought’
(Tib. bde-gsal-mi-rtog., Skt. sukha-prabhasvara-nirvikalpa).
The more this line is pursued and the deeper the experience
becomes, the clearer the view becomes, since, intellectually
speaking, the concepts which obstruct the view by creating
artificial opposites have become ineffective, and, in respect
of the emotions, the conflict has been resolved. It is from
this experience, and not from a futile attempt at rationaliz­
ing, that the Mahayanic axiom of the identity of samsara
and nirvana and of the identity of emotionality and
 enlightenment assumes significance.
The very fact that what Sahajayana teaches is no
intellectual system but a strict discipline that has to be
practised in order to be known makes it difficult to com­
prehend and to define. Moreover, Sahajayana emphasizes
the intuitive approach to Reality, and it is a fact that the
function of intuition is not the same as that of the intellect
and that their modes of operation are completely different.
This accounts for the fact that Sahajayana and Mantrayana
successfully evaded the fate of turning into dead systems.
Both Mantrayana and Sahajayana are concerned with
the practical aspect of Buddhism which culminates in the
four peaks of ‘view based on experience’ (Tib. lta-ba,
Skt. drsti), ‘development of what this view offers’ (Tib. sgom-
pa, Skt. bhavana), ‘to live and act accordingly’ (Tib. spyod-pa,
Skt. carya). and ‘the integration of the individual’ (Tib. bras-
bu, Skt. phala) which may be variously called ‘enlighten­
ment’, ‘spiritual maturity’, or ‘Buddhahood’.
Mantrayana and Sahajayana have had the ■greatest
influence on Tibetan Buddhism and there is sufficient
evidence to show that it is also the basis of Zen Buddhism.
Their influence has been all the more marked, because they
refer to the whole of human nature. Man is not only an
intellectual being, but also an emotional one, and it is well
known that the emotive meaning of anything whatsoever
is of greater importance for shaping the life of an individual
than the mere intellectual connotation. Thus, while all the
brilliant systems of Buddhist thought, the systematized
works of the Madhyamakas, Vijnai\avadins, Vaibhasikas,
Sautrantikas, and so on, are more or less of academic
interest only, Mantrayana and Sahajayana have remained a
living force to this day. The living Buddhism of Tibet, the
Himalayan countries, China, and Japan has been deeply
influenced by the practices of Mantrayana and Sahajayana,
and cannot be conceived without them.
Although Mantrayana and Sahajayana are not schools
clinging to rigidly defined tenets, as do, for instance, the
Vaibhasikas and Vijnanavadins, they are of the greatest
importance for the living force of Buddhism—Mantrayana
with its emotionally moving and aesthetically appealing
ritual, and Sahajayana with its profound meditative practices.
No wonder therefore that the most outstanding persona­
lities of Buddhism, such as Asanga, Santideva, Tilopa,
Naropa, Maitrlpa, gSer-glin-pa, Dvags-po-lha-rje and many
others, have contributed to them.
 Buddhist Studies in Recent Times

S o m e E m in e n t B u d d h i s t S c h o l a r s

In India and Europe

According to a Buddhist tradition, the dharmacakra-
pravartana—the Turning of the Wheel of Law—is said to
have taken place three times.' Historically, the reference is
first to the one which took place at Sarnath, the second to
the resurgence of Mahayana and the third to the rise of
the Yogacara school of Vijnanavada. To this can be added
a fourth awakening, which may be reckoned as co-existent
with the period of intensive research on Buddhism in the
East and West in the past hundred years. The awakening
was sudden and inspired, and it brought about a renais­
sance in Buddhist studies. This new wave spread through
the three continents of Europe, Asia and America, touching
almost all branches of the Arts and Humanities thereby
leading to a revival of cultural life in Asian countries and
making the world Buddha-samjni, or Buddha-conscious.
One has only to look into the stupendous eight volumes
of Bibliographie Bouddhique or into History of Indian
Literature, Vol. II, by Winternitz to realize the enor­
mous amount of work done in the field of Buddhist
studies. The names of E. Burnouf, Fausboll, Prinsep,
Kern, Csoma de Koros, Oldenberg, Poussin, Ldvi,
Stcherbatsky and the illustrious couple, Mr. and Mrs. Rhys
Davids, stand out in glory in the West and one remembers
with reverence such veterans in the East as S. C. Das,
1. See T. R . V. M urtj, The Central Philosophy of Buddhism.
Louis de la V allee P o u ssin Em ile S enart
(1869-1939) (1847-19*8)
T. W. Rhys Davids Mrs. C. A. F. Rhys Davi
(1843-1922) (1858-1942)
S. C. Vidyabhusan, Bunyiu Nanjio, J. Takakusu,
X). Kosambi and B. M. Barua. There are also innumerable
other scholars in our times who have kept the torch burning
and deserve our grateful homage.
Until a century ago the word Pali or even such words
as Hlnayana and Mahayana were little known outside
Ceylon. Burma and Japan. The discovery of Pali litera­
ture, with which Asoka is closely associated, is an interesting
story. In the first quarter of the last century, archaeologists
like James Prinsep and others were engaged in deciphering
Asokan edicts. It was the occurrence of the word Piyadassl
in the Mahavamsa, a Pali Chronicle of Ceylon, that helped
them to identify King Piyadassi of the edicts with King
Asoka. No wonder that a Pali book from Ceylon should
have brought to light the name of a king who was so
greatly instrumental in carrying the Buddha’s message of
enlightenment to the island. The credit for this discovery
goes to George Tumour who realized the value of the
hidden treasures in Pali literature and published a critical
edition and translation of the Mahavamsa in 1837.
These developments were received with great interest by
Western Indologists and an eminent scholar, Prof. Vincent
Fausboll of Copenhagen, came forward with an edition
and a Latin translation of the Dhammapada in 1855.
Scholars like E. Burnouf, B. Clough and J. Lewis had
already published works on the Pali language based on the
few texts that were available. New branches in Buddhist
studies were opened. These can roughly be summarized
as follows:

(1) Sanskrit studies through the collection of Buddhist

Sanskrit manuscripts from Nepal (1821—41), and
their distribution in various libraries of India and
Europe by B. H. Hodgson;
(2) Tibetan studies through the publication of
Tibetan-English Dictionary (1834) by Csoma de
Koros;
 (3) Pali studies through the publication of R. C.
Childers’ Pali-English Dictionary (1875) and the
foundation of the Pali Text Society (1881); and
(4) Chinese studies through the publication of Bunyiu
Nanjio’s Catalogue of the Chinese Tripitaka
(1883).
Hodgson’s distinct service in procuring Nepalese manus­
cripts and the subsequent discoveries of Tibetan and Pali
literature helped Eugene Burnouf to write the first history of
Buddhism. His famous work. Introduction a VHistorie du
Bouddhisme Indien, published in 1844, contained an excellent
survey of Buddhist literature and threw light on the relations
between the Pali and Sanskrit traditions. He translated long
passages of the Divyavadana, the Karanda-vyuha, the Vajra-
suci and wrote the first notes on the Prajiia-paramitas, the
Lankavatara-sutra and other extant literature. His second
work, Lotus de la bonne Loi, was a French translation of the
Saddharma-pundarTka, which appeared in 1852.
While Burnouf concentrated on Sanskrit Buddhism,
Fausboll made progress with his edition of the Pali texts.
His edition of the Dhammapada with a Latin translation
(1855) heralded the studies in Buddhist religion and thought.
His English translation of another major work, the Sutta-
nipata, was published in the Sacred Books of the East
Series in 1881, while the Pali Text Society published his
critical edition of the same text in 1885.
His greatest work, however, was the edition of the
Jatakas. This monumental work, which was his first love,
will for ever remain a standing monument of his astonishing
mind and industry. This was a substantial contribution to
the studies of popular Buddhism and Indian folklore.
Fausboll published this standard edition in six volumes
between 1877 and 1897, thus contributing very largely to the
study of cultural material in Buddhist literature.
Even before the Pali Text Society was begun, many
eminent scholars had devoted themselves to editing Pali
texts. The credit for editing the entire Vinaya-pitaka, for
 instance, goes to Hermann Oldenberg, a giant among the
Indologists in the last century. He was a great Vedic
scholar and has set the standard for the critical editions and
interpretations of the Rgveda. His learned introduction to
the Vinaya-pitaka brought the Discipline of the Buddhist
Order to the forefront and a new field was opened for
Buddhist ecclesiastical studies. The Vinaya-pitaka was
published during the period from 1879 to 1883 and his
English translations of the Patimokkha, the Mahavagga and
the Cullavagga, in collaboration with Rhys Davids, appear­
ed in Volumes X III, XVII, and XX of the Sacred Books
of the East (1881—85). His other celebrated work. The
Buddha, was translated into English by Hoey in the year
1882. This was the first text-book in Europe based wholly
on first-hand Pali sources. His other major works were the
editions of the Thera-Theri-gatha (P.T.S., 1883) the Dlpa-
vamsa (Text and English translation, 1897), and Literatur
des alten Indien.
Apart from these solid works, Oldenberg has many
learned articles to his credit. His erudition in Vedic litera­
ture helped him to establish the relation between Pali litera­
ture and the Vedas. His original suggestion that the intro­
duction to the Samannaphala-sutta is an imitation of the
Yajna valkya-Janaka dialogue in the Brhadaranyaka
Upanisad (IV, I), or his contention that the Pali Jatakas are
akin to the Al^hyana hymns of the Rgveda is an illustration
in point.
Another great scholar of this period was Prof. H. Kern
of Leyden. Kern’s first work was an edition of the Jataka-
mala of Aryasura (Vol. I.. H.O.S.. 1891), a Sanskrit
counterpart of the Pali Jatakas. His edition of the
Saddharma-pundarika (Bihl. Buddhica, 1908) and its
translation (S.B.E., Vol. XXI, 1884) threw abundant light
on the Mahayana, and made the study of the religious
aspects of Mahayana Buddhism easier. In 1896 his famous
Manual of Indian Buddhism was published in Grundriss der
Indo-Arischen Philologie und Altertumskunde. or the
 Encyclopaedia for lndo-Aryan Research. It gave for the
first time a complete, systematic and concise survey of the
long history of Buddhism. Even to this day, it remains a
valuable book of reference for students of Buddhism. His
other monumental work, Histoire du Bouddhisme dam
I ’lnde in two volumes (1901— 1903), gives a detailed account
of the life of the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha. It
also contains a valuable history of the Buddhist Councils
and later developments of various schools and sects.
These works, however, were essentially of a preliminary
character. The historical importance of the newly discovered
Pali literature was soon recognized by many younger
Oriental scholars, the foremost of them being Prof, Rhys
Davids. In 1864 he entered the Ceylon Civil Service,
where he showed a keen interest in his Buddhist surround­
ings and learnt Pali with Y. Unnase and the Ven.
Sumangala of the Vidyodaya College, Colombo. He re­
turned to England in 1872 and associated himself with the
works of Childers, Fausboll and Oldenberg. Childers’
articles on Nibbana had aroused much controversy and Rhys
Davids gave his mature judgment on this topic in his book,
Buddhism (1878). In 1879 he published his English tran­
slation of the Nidanakatha (Buddhist Birth Stories) with a
critical introduction on the transmigration of folklore.
With Oldenberg he translated into English the volumes of
the Vinaya-pitaka referred to above. This was his first contri­
bution to the Sacred Books of the East Series (1881—85).
In 1881 Prof. Rhys Davids was invited to give the
Hibbert Lectures in America. Here he announced the
birth of the famous Pali Text Society. In stately language
he described his new outlook towards the field of Buddhist
studies and declared, “The Sacred Books of the eajly
Buddhists have preserved to us the sole record of the only
religious movement in the world’s history which bears any
close resemblance to Christianity; and it is not too much
to say that the publication of this unique literature will be
no less important for the study of history and especially of
 religious history than the publication of the Vedas has
already been.” This new project was welcomed both
in the East and the West, and many distinguished scholars
came forward to help him in the noble cause. The rest of
his life is indeed the life of the Pali Text Society. His
sympathetic outlook for the East and his missionary zeal
for Buddhist studies made him a champion in this sphere;
and, until he died in 1922, he served the Society for a
period of forty-one years with love and devotion and helped
to publish almost the whole of the Pali canonical texts,
a large number of Pali commentaries, about a dozen transla­
tions and some twenty issues of a journal containing learned
articles on Buddhism, and on the Pali language and litera­
ture. During this period of manifold activities, Prof. Rhys
Davids himself edited a number of texts like the Digha-
nikaya 0889, 1903, 1910), the Abhidhammattha-sangaha
(1884), the Dathavamsa (1884) and a manual of Yogavacara
(1896). He also brought out his English translations of the
Milinda-panha (S.B.E. 1890—94) and of the Dlgha-nikaya
in 1889, 1910 and 1921 (S.B.B.). His critical introductions
to the individual suttas of the Dlgha-nikaya and the learned
notes on them are indispensable for the study of this text.
Even today this work remains a model for the translation
of similar texts. His other works of general interest are
many; but two, namely, Buddhism (1896) and Buddhist
India (1903) won great popularity through their novelty
and original research.
However, the most important of his works, his Pali-
English Dictionary, compiled in collaboration with
Dr. William Stede, is a monumental work worthy of a great
scholar. With the increase of new publications by the Pali
Text Society, the old dictionary by Childers was found inade­
quate and, in 1902, Prof. Rhys Davids conceived the idea of
compiling a dictionary on an international basis. The First
World War, however, interrupted his scheme. Therefore,
it was not until 1916 that he set to work on this dictionary
with the assistance of Dr. William Stede under the auspices
o f the Pali Text Society. He lived to see the publication
of the first three parts of this magnificent work. His emi­
nent colleague. Dr. Stede, completed the work in 1925.
Indeed, the services of Prof. Rhys Davids to the cause of
Pali studies were singular and original. He was, in the
words of his wife, the Max Muller of Buddhism.
Prof. Rhys Davids was perhaps excelled only by his
wife, Mrs. C. A. F. Rhys Davids, who brought her mighty
contributions to Pali studies as a crowning glory to her
husband’s work. As a life-long companion and a co-worker
of her husband, she took active part in the publications of
the Pali Text Society and, after the death of the founder,
conducted the affairs of the Society admirably in spite of
adverse circumstances. Even as early as 1909, she had
translated into English the Theri-gatha (Psalms of the
Sisters), which, for lyrical beauty, is next only to Sir Edwin
Arnold’s Light of Asia (1885). This book was soon follow­
ed by an English translation of the Thera-gatha (Psalms
of the Brethren, 1913). In 1917 she gave another
fine English translation of the Sagathavagga of the
Samyutta-nikaya. The credit for bringing the abstruse
Abhidhamma-pitaka to light also goes to her. In addition,
she gave readable editions of otherwise difficult texts, such as
the Vibhariga (1904), the Patthana (1921), the Yamaka
(1912) and the Visuddhimagga (1920). She also translated
into English the Dhammasangani (Buddhist Manual o f
Psychological Ethics, 1923), the Abhidhammattha-sangaha
{Compendium of Philosophy, 1910) and the Katha-vatthu
(Points of Controversy, 1915), the last two in collaboration
with Z. Aung.
Apart from these editions and translations, M ts. Rhys
Davids wrote a number of original books dealing with the
history of early Buddhist thought. The impact of the
researches in Mahayana Buddhism on the one hand, and
the repulsion caused by the dogmatic Anatmavada of the
Southern Buddhists on the other, inspired Mrs. Rhys Davids
to look for the original teachings of the Buddha, and she
brought out her thought-provoking Sakya or Buddhist
Origins in 1931. She was a lady of astonishing energy and
wrote a number of articles. These have been collected in
Wayfarer’s Words in three volumes which were published
posthumously in 1942. Whatever she wrote, she wrote with
conviction and every word of her writing bears the stamp
of her unique personality.
The Pali Text Society brought into prominence many
illustrious scholars of the West like V. Trenckner, R.
Chalmers, K. E. Neumann, L6on Feer, F. L. Woodward,
R. Morris and E. Hardy. To these we can add the magni­
ficent works of American scholars. Buddhism in Transla­
tions by Warren and Buddhist Legends by E. W. Burlingame
(Harvard Oriental Series) contributed considerably to the
popularization of Buddhist studies.
The labours of Western scholars could not but bring
about an awakening among the scholars of India. This led to
the foundation of the Buddhist Text Society in Calcutta in
1892. The President of this Society expressed the feeling of
the whole country, when he observed at the first general meet­
ing, “ It certainly does not redound much to our honour that
Buddhist literature should be more explored in the West
than in the East; bwt I trust that this Society will
be the means of wiping off this standing reproach
to us.” The large number of valuable manuscripts
scattered in various libraries in Nepal and outside were
catalogued by Rajendra Lai Mitra and Hara Prasad Shastri.
They also brought out Nepalese Buddkist Literature in
1882. In the same year, the great Indian explorer, Sarat
Chandra Das, returned from his travels into the interior of
Tibet, where he had collected an immense amount of
material from the ancient libraries of the Sakya and Sam-ye
monasteries of Lhasa. The thrilling accounts of his journey
have been published in The Journal of the Buddhist Text
Society. He gave a series of lectures mi the Indian pandits
in Tibet, in which he brought to light the works of Santa-
rak§ita, Kamalasila, Dipankara Srijfiana or AtiSa. These
lectures were later published in his Indian Pandits in the
Land of Snow. His editions of the Avadana-kalpalata of
Ksemendra in 1888 (Bibl. Indica Series) and the Suvarna-
prabhasa in 1898 were substantial contributions to the study
of Buddhist Sanskrit literature. He also prepared a Tibetan-
English dictionary.
Sarat Chandra Das was indeed a pioneer in Tibetan
studies, and was, thus, the Csoma de Koros of India. The
Buddhist Text Society, which he served for many years, pub­
lished many unknown texts such as the Bodhicaryavatara
(1894) and the first few chapters of the Visuddhimagga (1893).
It is notable that the Society had embarked upon a novel and
ingenious scheme of publishing a Sanskrit version of the Pali
Visuddhimagga. It also published the Svayambhu-purana
and a translation of the Asta-sahasrika-prajfia-paramita by
Hara Prasad Shastri. Harimohan Vidyabhusan’s translation
of some portions of Candrakirti’s Madhyamika-vrtti was also
published. Moreover, the Society arranged for the teaching
of Buddhists from abroad in the Sanskrit College of Calcutta
and thus opened a new department of Buddhist studies in
India.
Another eminent Indian in this field was Satish Chandra
Vidyabhusan, a pupil and colleague of S. C. Das. Dr.
Vidyabhusan was a great Sanskritist and had specialized in
Indian logic. In 1893 his services were lent by the Gov­
ernment of Bengal to the Buddhist Text Society, under
whose auspices he edited a number of Buddhist Sanskrit
texts. He came into contact with S. C. Das and assisted
him in the preparation of a Tibetan-English dictionary
(1879-1900). He was the first Indian to obtain an M.A.
degree in Pali at Calcutta University (1901). In 1910 he
went to Ceylon and studied for six months with the Ven.
High Priest Sumangala, the Principal of the Vidyodaya
College, Colombo. On his return he was appointed Principal
of the famous Government Sanskrit College at Calcutta,
where he carried on intensive research in Indian—
particularly Buddhist—logic and philosophy.
 His earlier works include editions of the Avadana-
kalpalata (in co-operation with S. C. Das), parts of the
Larikavatara-siitra. Kaccayana’s Pali Grammar with an
English translation (1907), the Buddha-stotra-sangraha (1908)
and tlie Nyayabindu (1917). His greatest contributions were
in the field of logic. He wrote several learned articles deal­
ing with the works of Dinnaga and Nagarjuna. His editions
of the Madhyamika aphorisms, about 150 essays on various
aspects of Buddhist philosophy, and the monumental History
of Indian Logic (1922) are an eloquent tribute to a worthy
son of India. It will not be an exaggeration to say that he
revolutionized research in Buddhism by laying proper
emphasis on Mahayana logic and philosophy.
Dr. Vidyabhusan’s Western contemporaries in this field
were Max MUller, Bendall. Minayeff, Max Wallesser and
Sylvain Levi. Max MUller, the father of Indian studies in
the West, contributed greatly to the progress of studies in
Buddhism. His translations of the Dhammapada. the
Sukhavati-vyuha and the Vajracchedika-prajfla-paramita
made more valuable his great work of editing the translations
of the Pali Pitaka. In 1889, I. P. Minayeff brought out his
edition of the Bodhicaryavatara. This was followed by the
edition (1902) and translation (1922) of the Siksa-samuccaya
by C. ‘Bfcndall. These two works helped considerably in
the popularization of the excellent works of Santideva.
Max Wallesser discovered many Tibetan works. Of his
important editions reference may be made here to the
commentary of Buddhapalita on the Madhyamika-karika
(Bibl. Bud., XVI), the Aparimitayurjnana-sutra (1916), and
the M inorathapurani (Part I, Pali Text Society, 1924). His
German translation of extracts from the Astasahasrika
appeared in 1914. He was the author of many valuable
books in German, of which the following may be mentioned:
Die Baddhistische Philosophie (1904), Die Streitlosigkeit
des Subhuti (1917), Die Sekten des alten Buddhismus (1927)
and Sptache und Heimat des Pali Kanons (1926).
The greatest Indologist of this period, however, was
 Sylvain Levi who rendered unique service to studies in
Sanskrit Buddhism. He was endowed with a profound
knowledge of the Chinese, Tibetan and Kuchean languages,
which enabled him to give the first critical editions of a
number of Mahayana texts. In 1892 he published, for the
first time, the first chapter of the Buddhacarita and in the
same year discovered two Chinese translations of the
Milinda-panha. In 1905 he came to Nepal, explored its
libraries anew and wrote his famous Le Nepal. In 1907 he
wrote a critical study of the Divyavadana and, in 1911.
published fragments of Buddhist texts in the Kuchean
language. In 1912 he wrote an important work on the
Dhammapada recensions. During the same period he
published the Satapancasatika-stotra and in 1912 discovered
a legend of the Karuna-pundarika in the Tokharian
language. In 1918 he brought out with Th. Stcherbatsky
the first Kosasthana of Yasomitra’s Sphutartha and in the
following year he discovered the Nairatmya-pariprccha. He
also discovered the Mahakarma-vibhanga, a Sanskrit version
of the CQla-kamma-vibhariga-sutta of the Majjhima-nikaya,
and published it with its Chinese versions in 1932. During
1929— 31 he published with Prof. J. Takakusu three fasci­
cules of Hobogirin, and an encyclopaedic dictionary of
Chinese Buddhist terms, which unfortunately remained in­
complete on account of the Second World War.
Sylvain Levi’s greatest discovery was the Sanskrit
texts of the Vijnanavada school of Buddhism while that of
the Mahayana-sutralarikara was a milestone in Mahayana
studies. His edition of this text with a French translation
and an exposition of Vijnanavada appeared in 1907. His
other major discovery was the twin texts, the ViipSatika and
the Trimsatika with their commentaries, which he published
in 1925. In 1934 he edited with S. Yamaguchi the
Madhyanta-vibhaga-tika, a systematic exposition of the
Yogacara-Vijnaptivada as contained in Vasubandhu’s Bhasya
on the Madhya-nta-vibhaga-sutra of Maitreya. These works
illuminated a dark period in Buddhist history and many
 eminent scholars like Poussin, Stcherbatsky and others became
interested in the study of Yogacara which was the final phase
of Buddhist philosophy in India.
Another great luminary of this period was Prof. Louis
de la Vallee Poussin', a pupil of Sylvain Levi and H. Kern.
After completing his studies in linguistics at Louvain, he
began his studies in Oriental subjects at the Sorbonne as a
pupil of S. Levi in 1891, and in the following years went
to Leyden to study the Gatha dialect with Prof. H. Kern.
Here he studied Tibetan and Chinese, which opened for him
a vast field of research. In 1893 he became a Professor
at the University of Ghent, where he worked for about
35 years and carried on his studies in Buddhism, parti­
cularly in Sarvastivada Buddhism. In 1921 he orga­
nized the Societe beige d’Etudes orientales. Under the
title Bouddhisme: Notes et Bibliographic, he published
learned reviews of new books on Oriental subjects. He
also directed the editing of Melanges chinois et bond-
dhiques, to which he contributed several valuable articles on
the Abhidharma. He contributed about thirty articles on dif­
ferent Buddhist topics to the Encyclopaedia of Religion and
Ethics. Together with Ph. Colinet he edited and published
Le Museon in which appeared some of his valuable editions
like the Bodhicaryavatara, the Bodhisattvabhumi, the
Madhyamakavatara, and the Vimsika-karika-prakarana of
Vasubandhu. His other notable editions are the Pancakrama
(1896), the Bodhicaryavatara-panjika (1901— 1905), the
Prasannapada of Candraklrti (1903— 1913) and the Maha-
niddesa (1916— 1917).
His greatest works, however, are his translations into
French of the Abhidharma-kosa of Vasubandhu (1923—31)
and the Vijfiaptimatratasiddhi of Yuan Chwang (1930).
He was a pioneer in the study of the Sarvastivada school of
Buddhism. Very little was known about the teachings of
this school until Poussin published his epoch-making transla­
tion of the Abhidharma-kosa with Vasubandhu’s bhiisya in
1. Indian Historical Quarterly, 1940, Vol. X V I, No. 2.
seven parts. He very successfully reconstructed, on the
basis of Chinese and Tibetan material, almost the whole of
the text of the karikas of the Abhidharma-koSa. The
valuable and exhaustive notes with which the work is pro­
vided show that in this great scholar there was a unique
combination of the linguist, the philosopher and the critic.
Poussin opened the vast stores of thought that lay buried
in a sealed chamber and filled a hujge gap between the studies
of early Pali works and the late Sunyavada doctrines. The
publication of this work revolutionized Buddhist studies and
gave rise to many controversial topics which engaged the
attention of some eminent contemporaries like Mrs. Rhys
Davids, Jean Przyluski and Th. Stcherbatsky. His thought-
provoking Nirvana (1925) propounded a novel view and
brought severe criticism from Th. Stcherbatsky, an eminent
Orientalist of Russia.
Th. Stcherbatsky, like Poussin, had worked for many
years in the field of Sarvastivada and Mahayana. He was a
close associate of Sylvain L6vi and had in 1917 edited the
Tibetan text of the Kosa and its bhasya with the assistance of
E. Obermiller, the editor of the Abhisamayalankara-prajfia-
paramita-upadesa-Sastra (1929) and the Uttara-tantra (1931).
In 1920 he published Soul Theory of the Buddhists, an Eng­
lish translation of Chapter IX of the Kos'a. In 1923 he
published a learned treatise, Central Conception of Bud­
dhism and the Meaning of the Word Dharma. In this mas­
terly work he established the fact that the theory of skandha
was an element of ancient Buddhism and the pivot of the
whole doctrine. In criticism of Poussin’s Nirvana, he brought
out his famous work, The Central Conception of Buddhist
Nirvana, which was perhaps the last word on this most debat­
ed topic. His profound study of the Ko&a, the Madhyamika-
karika and the later works on Buddhist logic are clearly
reflected in this work, which gave for the first time a complete
and constructive survey of the entire Buddhist philosophy.
These preliminary treatises were followed by his monumental
work, Buddhist Logic, in two volumes in 1932. It was the
first of its kind, exclusively based on the original works of
such master minds as Dinnaga, Dharmakirti and Dharmottara.
In the preface to his first volume of Buddhist Logic he
observes: “There is a widely spread prejudice that positive
philosophy is to be found only in Europe. It is also a pre­
judice that Aristotle’s treatment was final, that having had in
this field no predecessor, he also had no need of a continua-
tor.” The publication of these two volumes not only removed
this prejudice against Indian logic, but also crowned the
vast and extensive Buddhist studies of the whole century.
Since the Pali Text Society had been publishing the Pali
texts, it was not considered necessary to publish them in India,
too. However, readers in India did not feel quite at home
with the Roman characters in which these editions were pub­
lished. There was need of a scholar with insight and inspira­
tion who could make the Pali treasures accessible to the
masses. This prime need was largely fulfilled by the late
Dharmananda Kosambi, who, true to the Indian tradition,
left his hearth and home in search of Truth and a Teacher
and built up a tradition of Buddhist studies in his mother­
land.
His passionate zeal for knowledge and the teachings of
the Buddha took him several times to Ceylon, Burma and dis­
tant parts of India. For a while he became a Sramanera in
Ceylon (1902) and learnt Pali with the Rev. Sumangala
of Vidyodaya College. He spent many years in Burma
meditating like a true yogin. He was first discovered by
Calcutta University where he served for a while in 1906,
but his desire to teach Buddhism among his own people
brought him to Maharashtra, where a chance meeting with
Prof. J. H. Woods of Harvard University took him to
America to edit the Visuddhimagga, a work which was left
incomplete by the famous Warren, the author of Buddhism in
Translations. This work he completed very successfully in
1932, although the volume was not published until 1950, long
after the publication of his Devanagari edition of the work.
For some years (1912— 1918) he was Professor of Pali at
 Fergusson College in Poona, where certain eminent scholars
of our day had the privilege of studying with him. It is
through these scholars that the Pali language found a place
in the schools and colleges of the Deccan, and many Pali
texts were published in Devanagari editions.
Dharmananda Kosambi was a sincere nationalist. For
some years he served the National University of Gujarat
started by Mahatma Gandhi, where he wrote several works
on Buddhism in Marathi and Gujarati. Some of these are
Buddhacarita. Buddha-lild-sdra-sahgraha, Buddha Dharma
dtti Sahgha, Samddhi-mdrga, Jataka-katha, Buddha-Sahgha-
paricaya, Hindi Sanskrti dni Ahim sd and Bodhicaryavatara.
Together with a Marathi translation of the Suttanipata and
several other works, these were all written with a view to
popularizing Pali studies and enlightening the masses about
the Buddha. He also made valuable contributions in the
field of Abhidharma. His Navanita-tikd on the Abhidham-
mattha-sarigaha and Dipikd on the Visuddhimagga are of
great help to students of Abhidharma. But the greatest con­
tribution of this great scholar of Pali and lover of Buddhism
is the Devanagari edition of the Visuddhimagga (1940) which
was his life work.
Another scholar, the late Prof. C. V. Rajvade, who died
very young at the age of 30, may also be mentioned. He
was a worthy pupil of Dharmananda Kosambi. He edited,
for the first time, in Devanagari characters the first fifty
suttas of the Majjhima-nikaya, and the Hatthavanagalla-
viharavarpsa, a small Pali text of the 13th century A.D. His
Marathi translation of the Digha-nikaya, particularly of the
first volume, shows his scholarship and critical acumen.
Professor Kosambi’s contemporary, B. M. Barua, was
another Indian who continued the Buddhist philosophical
studies started by Dr. S. C. Vidyabhusan. Dr. Barua’s first
work, The History of Pre-Buddhist Indian Philosophy, was
an epoch-making publication. Through this work he placed
early Buddhism in its real perspective and countered the ten­
dency of studying Buddhism in isolation, independently of
 H a jo n d r a la l M ltra
(18'M-1891)

Anagartka Dharmapala
(1864-1933)
pre-Buddhist thought. His second work, Ajlvikas, brought
to light a powerful ancient religious movement, now extinct
in its motherland. His Prakrit Dhammapada was the fruit of
great literary industry. Dr. Barua also wrote many valuable
works on Buddhist inscriptions and history. His Old Brahml
Inscriptions in the Udayagiri and Khandagiri Caves, Bhar­
hut Inscriptions, Asoka and his Inscriptions and Ceylon Lec­
tures considerably advanced the study of the history of
Buddhism.
The brilliant contributions of these eminent scholars bear
testimony to the growing popularity of Buddhist literature
and thought. They also point to the vitality of a culture
which could command the wholehearted service of so many
scholars of the East and the West.

In China
The Rev. T ’ai-Hsu is recognized as the greatest Buddhist
leader of the early 20th century in China. He was born in
1888 A.D. in the Chung-te district of Che-kiang Province
which has remained Buddhist since Buddhism was introduced
into China in the first century A.D. He was trained at the
Tien T’ung Shan monastery under the well-known monk,
Pa-chi, and then in the Monastery of Seven Pagodas where
he studied the Tripitaka and practised meditation. He was
deeply influenced by the teachings of T ’ien-tai and the
Avatamsaka school.
He was keenly interested in giving scientific training to
Buddhist monks in China and wanted to reform the Buddhist
Sangha of that country. He was a contemporary of celebrat­
ed scholars like Kang Yu-wei, Liang Chi-chao, Sun Yat-sen,
Carsun Chang and others. Among the institutions he found­
ed are the Buddhist Congress of China (1911), the Buddhist
Institute of Wuchang (1912), a preaching hall in a monastery
of the Lu-shan Hills (1924), the Buddhist International Insti­
tute and a Sino-Tibetan Buddhist College (1930) on Mount
Chin-yun, near Chungking, and the Young Men’s Buddhist
Association of China (1945). After his country’s victory in
 the Sccond World War, he went to Nanking and became the
Chairman of the Buddhist Reformation Committee and
applied himself to the reformation of the Chinese Sangha.
Being of a scholarly bent, he worked zealously in the
cause of the education of Buddhists. Early in life at the
age of twenty-one, he opened a centre of Buddhist education
with the help of his teacher, Pa-chi, and undertook research
in Buddhism in collaboration with the celebrated lay disciple
of the Buddha, Yang Wen-hui. He later became the Direc­
tor of the Buddhist Research Vihara at Nanking. From 1912
to 1916, he was engaged in a comparative study of Buddhist
literature and philosophy on the one hand and Western logic,
philosophy and experimental science on the other. He was
deeply interested in the Vijflana-matra (mere consciousness)
philosophy which had also attracted the young non-Buddhist
generation of China. He wrote books like Evolution Rightly
Explained, The Absolute Meaning of Philosophy, and New
Conception about Education, which inspired the modern
Chinese youth. His views were propagated through a maga­
zine called Bodhi. which has now changed its name to Hai
Chao Ying (Ocean Tide Voice).
The Rev. T ’ai-Hsu travelled extensively in Indo-China,
Formosa, Japan, Europe and America which helped him to
widen his vision. He called an International Buddhist Con­
ference in 1924 at the Great Grove Monastery in the Lu-
shan hills, and took part in several conferences like the East
Asiatic Buddhist Conference in Japan (1925) and in 1938
formed a Buddhist goodwill mission which toured India,
Burma, Ceylon and Thailand. He sent his disciples to India
and Ceylon to study Buddhism from the original sources in
Sanskrit and Pali. His insistence was more on the under­
standing of the Buddhist books than on their memorization.
He also became the President of the Buddhist Institute of
South Fu-kien. In 1947, after a most active career which was
an inspiration to the younger generation, the Rev. T ’ai-Hsu
passed away in Shanghai at the age of fifty-nine while he was
staying at the Monastery of Jodo Buddha in that city. He
will long be remembered not only as a scholar but as an
organizer and leader of the movement for Buddhist revival in
China.

In Japan
The name of Jiun Sonja (1718— 1804) is intimately con­
nected with the initiation of Sanskrit studies on traditional
lines in Japan. His importance lies in the fact that he studied
Sanskrit by himself in the pre-Meiji period without being sub­
jected to the influence of contemporary Western scholars or
Indian pandits.
Jiun Sonja was a monk of the Shingon sect. This sect
was known for its tradition of learning Sanskrit characters in
order to read the dharanls. This study was called Shittan
Gaku ('shittan' is the transliteration of siddham which means
completion) or the complete characters by which the highest
doctrine is described. Naturally he learned this ‘shittan’ in
his youth, but not being satisfied with this, he studied the
Sanskrit language by himself and wrote several articles on
Sanskrit grammar. At the same time, he read the Sanskrit
manuscripts of the Horyuji and other monasteries, and com­
pared them with their Chinese versions. Afterwards he pub­
lished Sanskrit editions of three sutras, namely the Sukhavati-
vyuha, the Bhadracari-nama-aryasamantabhadra-pranidh&na,
and the Prajna-paramita-hrdaya. Moreover, he attempted to
restore the Sanskrit text of the Prajfianaya from its Chinese
version. This was a remarkable attempt and probably the first
of its kind in the world. Jiun Sonja called his collection of
articles on Sanskrit study ‘Bongaku-shinryo’ (A Guide to
Sanskrit Study). Some important parts of this collection
were published in 1953 at Osaka to commemorate the 150th
anniversary of his death.
The credit of pioneering Sanskrit research on modern
lines in Japan goes to Bunyiu Nanjio (1849-1927). He was
sent abroad by the order of Higashi-hongan-ji. the head of
the monastery of the Shin sect, to study under Max MUller
at Oxford. During his stay in England, he produced in 1883
 the well-known Catalogue of the Buddhist Tripitaka. He
also published in collaboration with Prof. Max Muller such
sutras as the Vajracchedika and the Sukhavati-vyuha.
On his return to Japan in 1884, he began lecturing on
Sanskrit studies at the Otani and Tokyo Universities. This
was the beginning of Sanskrit and Indological studies at many
of Japan’s national and private universities.
During and after his term as a professor and later as Pre­
sident of Otani University, he edited the Saddharma-pun-
darika in collaboration with Dr. H. Kern of Holland and pub­
lished the Lankavatara-sutra and the Suvarnaprabhasa-sutra.
Junjiro Takakusu (1866— 1945) succeeded B. Nanjio at
Tokyo University. He also studied at Oxford under Max
Muller. On his return to Japan, he became professor of
Sanskrit literature and Indian philosophy at Tokyo University.
He wrote many articles in English and other languages
which made him famous abroad. He published the follow­
ing important works: The Amitayurdhyana-sutra (Engl. tr.).
S.B.E., XLIX, 1894; A Record of the Buddhist Religion as
practised in India and the Malay Archipelago (671—695 A.D.)
by I-tsing (Engl, tr.), 1896, The Life o f Vasubandhu by
Paramartha (Engl, tr.), P.T.S. edition, 1904; the Samanta-pasa-
dika (P.T.S. edition in collaboration with M. Nagai), 1924— 38;
and The Essentials of Buddhist Philosophy (Lectures at
Hawaii University, U.S.A.), 1947. He was also the chief
editor of Taisho-shin-shu-Daizokyo (the Taisho edition of
the Tripitaka).
He was both a great teacher and a great scholar. Among
the many Indologists who worked under his guidance at
Tokyo University were: Dr. H. Ui and Prof. E. Kanakura
who specialized in Indian philosophy; the late Prof. T.
Kimura, Dr. S. Miyamoto and Prof. S. Hanayama who work­
ed on Buddhism; Dr. M. Nagai who was primarily interested
in Pali literature and Prof. N. Tsuji who studied Vedic and
Sanskrit literature. Takakusu also founded a Women’s Col­
lege in Tokyo, where the study of Buddhism occupied a pro­
minent place.
 Unrai Wogihara [1877 <?)—1947]( learned Sanskrit in
Germany under Dr. Leumann. He edited the Mahayana
texts and among his notable works are the Mahavyutpatti,
(Sanskrit-Chinese edition, 1915), the Bodhisattva-bhumi
(1930), the Sphutartha Abhidharmakosa-vyakhya (1932), the
Abhisamayalankaraloka (1932—35) and the Saddharma'
pundarika (1934). As professor at Taisho University he began
compiling a Sanskrit-Japanese dictionary in collaboration with
K. Tsuchida and other members of the University staff, but
this work was interrupted by the Second World War and
his subsequent death.
He gave an impetus to the study of Sanskrit by publishing
a Sanskrit grammar in Japanese.
Chizen Akanuma (1884—1937) was sent to England and
Ceylon by Higashi-honagan-ji to study early Buddhism. In
Ceylon, under the guidance of Sfanissara Thera, he perfected
his knowledge of Pali Buddhism. He thus became a pioneer
in the field of Pali Buddhism in Japan. As professor in Pali
Buddhism at Otani University, he published a number of
books on Buddhist literature, among which the most well
known are: The Comparative Catalogue of Chinese Agamas
and Pali Nikayas, 1929, and The Dictionary of Proper Names
of Indian Buddhism, 1931. He was responsible for a num­
ber of Japanese translations from the Pali Nikayas and from
the Abhidhamma. After his death, his disciples at Otani
University collected his lectures and published them in three
volumes.

P ro g ress of B u d d h is t St u d ie s : P u b l i c a t io n s and

R esearch

In Europe and America

The beginnings of Pali Buddhist studies in Europe may
be traced as far back as 1826 when E. Burnouf and Christian
Lassen published their essay upon Pali in French. The edi­
tion in Roman characters with an English translation (Cotta
Church Mission Press, Ceylon. I837> by George Turnour of
the first thirty-eight chapters of the well-known Chronicle of
Ceylon called the Mahavamsa marked the first important
attempt by a European scholar to introduce Buddhist litera­
ture into the West. After some time Burmese and Simhalese
Buddhism was brought to the notice of European scholars
by the publication, based on manuscripts in the vernacular
languages, of the works of two Christian missionaries. These
were the The Life or Legend of Gaudama, The Buddha o f
lhe Burmese (1st edition, Rangoon, 1858) from the pen of
Bishop P. Brigandet and the series of works by R. Spence
Hardy of the Wesleyan Mission in Ceylon, namely. Eastern
Monachism (1850), A Manual of Buddhism (1st edition, I860)
and Legends and Theories of the Buddhist compared with
History and Science (1866). An important advance was
marked by the publication of the well-known Dictionary of
the Pali Language (London, 1875) by a Ceylon civilian.
Robert Caesar Childers. In Continental Europe, V. Fausboll
brought out his great edition of the Jatakas in seven volumes
<1877—97) and another Danish scholar, V. Trenckner, pub­
lished his edition of the Milinda-panha (London, 1880) while
H. Oldenberg published his edition and translation of the
DFpavamsa (London, 1878), as well as his great edition of
the Vinaya-pitaka in five volumes (London, 1879 -83). A
great step forward was taken in 1881 when T. W. Rhys
Davids, to whom Pali Buddhist studies in Europe owe more
than to any other single scholar, started the Pali Text Society
with a board of five members with himself as Chairman.
The object of this renowned Society was to make available
to students “the rich stores of the earliest Buddhist literature
now lying unedited and practically unused in the original
manuscripts throughout this country (England) and the
public libraries of Europe”. The Society has published to
date the whole of Pali canonical and all the important
works of the Pali non-canonical literature including com­
mentaries1. To the works of the first category belong the
1. Owing to lim ited wpaoe, only a few of the popular oanoniro) te x ts and
com m entaries are m entioned heiv.
Dlgha-nikaya, edited by T. W. Rhys Davids and J. Estlin
Carpenter <3 vols., 1889—1911), the Majjhima-nikaya, edited
by V. Trenckner, R. Chalmers and Mrs. Rhys Davids (4 vols.,
1888 —1925), the Samyutta-nikaya, edited by Leon Feer (6
vols., 1884 —1904), the Anguttara-nikaya, edited by R. Morris.
E. Hardy and Mabel Hunt (6 vols., 1885—1910), the
Khuddaka-patha, edited by Helmer Smith and Mabel Hunt
(1915), the Suttanipata, edited by Dines Anderson and
Helmer Smith (1913), and the Thera-gatha and the Theri-
gatha, edited by H. Oldenberg and R. Pischel (1883). In
the same class of canonical works published by the
Society are included the Dhammasangani. edited by
E. Muller (1885), the Vibhariga, edited by Mrs. Rhys
Davids (1904), and the Katha-vatthu, edited by Arnold C.
Taylor (2 vols., 1894, 1897). The commentaries on the Canon
published by the Society include Buddhaghosa’s commentary
on the Digha-nikaya, edited by T. W. Rhys Davids, J. Estlin
Carpenter and W. Stede (3 vols., 1886 —1932), the commen­
taries on the Majjhima-nikaya, edited by J. H. Woods.
D. Kosambi and I. B. Horner (5 vols., 1922 —38), those on the
Samyutta-nikaya, edited by F. L. Woodward (3 vols., 1929—
37), those on the Anguttara-nikaya, edited by Max Walleser
and Hermann Kopp (4 vols.. 1924 —40). the commentaries on
the Khuddaka-patha, edited by Helmer Smith (1915). those on
the Suttanipata, edited by Helmer Smith (3 vols., 1916— 18).
those on the Dhammasangani, edited by E. Muller (1885).
Dhammapala's commentary on the Udana, edited by F. L.
Woodward (1926). those on the Vimana-vatthu, edited by
E. Hardy (1901), those on the Peta-vatthu, edited by E. Hardy
(1894), those on the Theri-gatha, edited by E. Muller (1882).
those on the Thera-gatha, still incomplete, edited by F. L.
Woodward (2 vols., 1940.1952), and lastly, the commentary
on the Dhammapada, edited by H. C. Norman (5 vols.. 1906 —
15). Other non-canonical works published by the Society
include Buddhaghosa’s Visuddhimagga, edited by Mrs. Rhys
Davids (2 vols., 1920—21), the Mahavamsa (1908) and the
Culavamsa (2 vols., 1925—27), edited by Wilhelm Geiger.
 The translations of Pali canonical and non-canonical
works by European scholars went hand in hand with their
publication of the original texts. The Vinaya-pitaka was
translated into English by T. W. Rhys Davids and H. Olden­
berg (S.B.E., Vols. 13, 17, 20, 1881—85), while extracts from
the same work were rendered into Russian by Minayeff (1870)
and into German by Karl Seidenstiicker (1924—25). A new
translation of the Vinaya-pitaka was published recently by
I. B. Horner (5 vols., S.B.B., 1940—52). The Dlgha-nikaya
was rendered into English in Dialogues of the Buddha (3 vols.,
1899— 1921), by T. W. Rhys Davids and Mrs. Rhys Davids
and into German (4 vols., 1907—28) by K. E. Neumann,
while extracts were published with a French translation
(1876) by M. P. Grimblot and German translations by K. E.
Neumann in 1911 and by R. Otto Franke in 1913. The
Majjhima-nikaya was translated into German by K. E.
Neumann (3 vols., 1896—1902), into Italian by K. E.
Neumann and G. de Lorenzo (1907) and into English, Fur­
ther Dialogues of the Buddha, by Lord Chalmers (2 vols.,
1926—27). The Sarpyutta-nikaya was translated into Eng­
lish, The Book of Kindred Sayings (P.T.S., 5 vols., 1917—30),
by Mrs. Rhys Davids and F. L. Woodward, and into Ger­
man (2 vols., 1925 —30), by Wilhelm Geiger. The Angut­
tara-nikaya was rendered into German (5 vols., 1907—20).
by Bhikkhu Nanatiloka (Anton Gueth), and info English.
The Book of Gradual Sayings, by F. L. Woodward and
E. M. Hare (P.T.S., 5 vols., 1932—36). The Dhammapada
and the Suttanipata were translated into English by Max
Muller and V. Fausboll respectively (S.B.E., 10 vols., 1881).
The Dhammapada was further rendered into German by
A. Weber (1860), by Leopold von Schroeder (1892), by
Neumann (1893), by Dahlke (1919), by Walter Markgraf
(1912), by R. Otto Franke (1923), into Italian by P. E.
Pavolini (1908), into Polish by St. Fr. Michalski-lwienski
(1925), into French by Fernando Hue (1878) and by R. and
M. de Maratray (1931). The English translations of the
Dhammapada and the Itivuttaka (1935), by F. L. Wood­
ward and of the Vimana-vatthu and the Peta-vatthu (1942),
by Jean Kennedy and H. S. Gehman have appeared under
the title Minor Anthologies of the Pali Canon. The Suttani­
pata was translated into German by K. E. Neumann (1905)
and by Karl Seidenstucker (1931), into English by Lord
Chalmers, along with the Pali text (Harvard Oriental Series,
No. 37, 1932), and by E. M. Hare under the title Woven
Cadences of Early Buddhists (1945). K. E. Neumann trans­
lated the Thera-gatha and the TherT-gatha into German
(1899) while Mrs. Rhys Davids translated the same into
English in Psalms of the Early Buddhists, Psalms
of the Sisters, and Psalms of the Brethren (P.T.S.,
1909, 1913). The first fasciculus of a new edition of the
Pali Canon after the Cambodian version was published with
an accompanying translation in French by J. Bloch, J. Fillio-
zat, and L. Renou in 1949. A number of scholars under the
editorship of E. B. Cowell translated the Jatakas into English
in seven volumes (1895— 1913) and the same work was trans­
lated into German by Julius Dutoit in seven volumes (1908—
11). A few chapters (I—VI) of the Visuddhimagga of
Buddhaghosa were rendered into German by Bhikkhu
Nanatiloka (1931—36). William Geiger assisted by Mabel
Bode translated the Mahavamsa into English (P.T.S., 1912)
and the Cujavamsa was translated into German by Wilhelm
Geiger and re-translated from the German into English by
Mrs. C. Mabel Rickmers (P.T.S., 2 vols., 1929—30). The
Milinda-panha was translated into English (S.B.E., Vols. 35,
36, 1890—94), by T. W. Rhys Davids, into German by
F. Otto Schroeder in 1907 and Bhikkhu Nanatiloka in 1924
and into French by L. Finot in 1923. Copious extracts from
Pali canonical and non-canonical literature were translated
by H. C. Warren in his work, Buddhism in Translations
(H.O.S., 1896), and those from the Dhammapada commentary
were translated similarly by E. W. Burlingame in his work
called Buddhist Legends (H.O.S.. 3 vols., 1921). The Pali Text
Society’s Pali-English Dictionary, edited by T. W. Rhys
Davids and William Stede (1921—25), has been followed by
 Critical Pali Dictionary by Dines Anderson and Helmer
Smith, of which only one volume in nine parts (Copenhagen,
1927—28) has been published so far. We may also mention
Ihe publication of Pali Tipitaka Concordance. Vol. ], pre­
pared by scholars like Woodward and others, and edited by
E. M. Hare. This was brought out by the Pali Text Society
in 1952—55 and has proved very useful to Buddhist scholars.
The foundations of the study of Buddhist literature in
Sanskrit and mixed Sanskrit were laid by B. H. Hodgson,
British Resident in Nepal (1821—43), who utilized his long
stay in that country to make a very valuable collection of
Buddhist Sanskrit manuscripts which he afterwards divided
between the libraries of Calcutta, London and Paris. He also
wrote papers in Asiatic Researches, Vol. 16 (1828), and Trans­
actions of the Royal Asiatic Society of London, Vol. 3 (1828),
on topics connected with his collection. About the same
time a Hungarian scholar. Alexander Csoma de Koros, made
a daring journey (1818—23) from his native Transylvania to
India and having learnt Tibetan from the monks of Ladakh
wrote his Tibetan grammar and his Tibetan dictionary (1834)
and published his famous ‘Analysis of the Kanjur’ (Asiatic
Researches, Vol. 20, 1836). The first comprehensive survey
of Sanskrit Buddhism based upon the Hodgson collection at
Paris was made in French by E. Burnouf in Introduction
to the History of Indian Buddhism (1st edition, Paris, 1844).
He also published in French the first translation of the well-
known work of Mahayana Buddhism called the Saddharma-
pundarika (1852). Simultaneously the study of Chinese Bud­
dhism was inaugurated by such works as the French transla­
tion of the Mongol version of Kasyapa Matanga’s Sutra of 42
Sections by Gabet and Hue (J.A., 1848) and the French trans­
lation of the Chinese version of a lost Sanskrit collection of
the Avadanas, by Stanislas Julien (3 vols., 1859). Again
while A. Weber introduced the great poet A£vagho§a to the
West by publishing the text and the translation of the Vajra-
sucl (1859), A. Schiefner opened up a rich mine of historical
tradition by his translation into German of Taranatha’s his­
 tory of Buddhism (1869). Wassiljew, in his great work in
German on Buddhism, has given copious extracts from
the Avatamsakas, the Ratnakutas and the Dharanls of
the Chinese Buddhist Canon as well as the Chinese versions
of the biographies of the great poets and philosophers of
Mahayana Buddhism. We may also mention here Ober-
miller’s English translation of Bu-ston’s history of Buddhism
in Tibetan (Vols. I and II, 1931—32). Texts from the Chinese
Buddhist Canon were translated in a series of works (1871 —
78) by Samuel Beal, who also published (S.B.E., XIX, 1883)
a translation of the Chinese version of Asvaghosa’s Buddha-
carita. Other important landmarks of this period were the
French translation of the Lalitavistara from its Tibetan ver­
sion (2 vols., 1884, 1892), by P. E. Foucaux. and the transla­
tion into French of Koros’ ‘Analysis of the Kanjur’ with
numerous additions by Leon Feer (1881). A beginning was
made in the publication of the class of Mahayana works called
the Prajna-paramitas by the editions and translations of
selected texts by Max Muller (S.B.E., Vol. 49, Oxford, 1881,
1884).
In the period that followed great advances were made in
the study of every branch of the Sanskrit Buddhist literature
in the original as well as in the Tibetan. Chinese and other
versions. As regards the Sanskrit Canon, a great edition of
the Mahavastu was published with a valuable survey of its
contents and important comments by E. Senart (3 vols.,
1882 —97) while S. Lefmann brought out his edition of the
Lalitavistara (2 vols., 1902 -1908). thereby superseding the
earlier edition in the Bibliotheca Indica Series. The Tibetan
version of the Udana-varga of Dharmatrata was translated
into English by W. W. Rockhill (1883) and edited by
H. Beckh (1911). Among the Mahayana sutras of the Ratna-
kuta class the Kasyapa-parivarta was edited from the original
Sanskrit with its parallel Tibetan and Chinese versions by
Baron A. von Stael-Holstein (1926) while another text called
the Bhadramaya-kara-vyakarana, based upon Chinese and
Tibetan versions, was edited and translated into English by
 K. Regamoy in 1938. Recently J. J. Jones published an English
translation of the Mahavastu in two volumes (1949—52). As
regards the poet Asvaghosa and his school, the Buddhacarita
was edited by E. B. Cowell (Oxford, 1893) and was translated
into English by the same scholar (S.B.E., 49. 1894). It was
translated into German by Th. Schultze, after Beal’s transla­
tion of the Chinese version (1895), by Hans Ludwig (1912),
by Carl Cappeller (1922), and by Richard Schmidt (1923),
while the Tibetan text with its German translation was pub­
lished by Friedrich Weller (2 vols., 1926, 1928). It was
translated into Italian by Carlo Formichi (1912). A new
edition as well as a translation of the Buddhacarita was
published by E. H. Johnston (1936). The same scholar
brought out an edition (1928) and an English translation
(1932) of Asvaghosa’s second great epic called the 5>aun-
darananda. The work called the SOtralankara, which is
attributed to Asvaghosa, but is really the Kalpana-manditika
of Kumaralata, was translated into French after the Chinese
version of Kumarajiva by Ed. Huber (1908), while the Tibetan
version of a second work attributed to the same poet, namely,
the Gapdf-stotragatha was published with the reconstructed
Sanskrit text by Baron a von Stael-Holstein (1913).
The Jatakamala of the poet Aryasura was edited by H. Kern
(H.O.S., 1891) and translated into English by J. S. Speyer
<1893—94). In the branch of Avadana literature the Divya-
vadana (from which long extracts had been translated before
by Burnouf in his Introduction) was edited by E. B. Cowell
and R. A. Neil (1886), while the Avadana-£ataka was edited
by J. S. Speyer (Bibl. Bud.. 2 vols.. 1906. 1909) and translated
into French by L6on Feer (1891). In the field of what may
properly be called Mahayana canonical literature, the two
works bearing the title Sukhavati-vyuha were edited by Max
Muller and B. Nanjio (Oxford, 1883) and translated by the
former (S.B.E., Vol. 49, 1894). The Saddharama-pundarika
was edited by H. Kern and B. Nanjio (Bibl. Bud., 1912) and
was translated into English by Kern (S.B.E., Vol. 21, 1884).
A new edition of the Saddharma-pun^arika, based upon the
 Nepalese manuscripts and the Chinese version, has been
planned by W. Baruch and a preparatory study of the same
was published in German in 1938. The Suvarnaprabha-
sottama-sutra was edited by J. Nobel (1937) in the original
Sanskrit with the help of its Tibetan. Chinese and Uigur
versions. The Tibetan version of this work was translated
into German by the same scholar (1944). The Dasabhumika-
sutra was edited in the original Sanskrit along with its Tibetan
version and a French translation by Louis de la Vallee Poussin
(1907— ID, while a valuable glossary of this work after its
Sanskrit, Tibetan, Mongolian and Chinese versions was pub­
lished by J. Rahder' (1928-29).
As regards the poets and philosophers of Mahayana Bud­
dhism, the Madhyamika-karikas of Nagarjuna, the founder
of the Madhyamika school, were translated after the Tibetan
version by Max Walleser (1911) and the Sanskrit text was
edited with its commentary by CandrakTrti by Vallee Poussin
(1903— 13), while extracts from this work and its commentary
were translated into English by Th. Stcherbatsky (1927) and
into German by St. Schayer (1929—31). The commentary
of Nagarjuna on Pancavimsa-prajna-paramita, called the
Mahaprajnaparamita-sSstra, has been described (J.A., 1950,
p. 377) as a kind of encyclopaedia of Buddhist India in the
first centuries of the Christian era. The first two volumes of
a projected complete French translation of this great work,
after the Chinese version, along with the translator’s copious
notes, have been published (1944, 1949) by E. Lamotte. The
Yuktisa${ika of Nagarjuna was translated into German from
the Chinese version by Philip Schaffer (1923—1924). A
complete translation (in Italian) of the Chatufr&taka of
Aryadeva was brought out (1925) by G. Tucci from the
Tibetan version. The Sanskrit text of the Abhisamaya-
larikara-prajrftparamita of Maitreyanatha, the founder of
the Yogacara school, was edited along with its Tibetan ver­
sion and an English translation and explanatory notes by
1. The Sanskrit text has also been edited by D r. J . Rahder (Societe
beige d* Etudes orientates).
 Th. Stcherbatsky and E. Obermiller (1929). The commen­
tary Abhisamayalankara-aloka of Haribhadra on this work
was published by G. Tucci (G.O.S.. 1932). The Sanskrit text
of the Abhisamayalankara with a Sanskrit-Tibetan index was
published recently (1954) by E. Conze. The Madhyanta-
vibhaga-sutra of Maitreyanatha with the sub-commentary of
Sthiramati was edited in part by V. Bhattacharya and G.
Tucci (1932). The Mahayana-sutralankara, attributed to
Asariga by its editor, but probably written by Maitreyanatha,
was edited with a French translation by S. Levi (2 vols., 1907,
1911). The Mahayana-sarigraha of Asariga was edited after
the Tibetan and Chinese versions along with a translation
and editor’s note in French (2 vols., 1938-39), by E. Lamotte.
The Abhidharma-kosa of Vasubandhu has been called a
general manual for HTnayana Buddhism. A complete anno­
tated translation in French of this great work, based upon the
Tibetan and the Chinese versions, was published (1923-24)
by Vallee Poussin. Bhavaviveka’s commentary on the
Madhyamika-sutra. entitled the Prajna-pradTpa was published
in its Tibetan version by Max Walleser (1914) and Buddha-
palita's commentary on the same work called the Mula-
madhyamaka-vrtti was edited by the same scholar (1913-14).
The texts of Nagarjuna’s Vigrahavyavartanl and Aryadeva’s
Sata-sastra were edited after the Chinese version by G. Tucci
(G.O.S., 1929). The Alambana-parTksa of Dinnaga ("One
of the foremost figures in the history of Indian logic”)
was edited after the Tibetan text along with a translation in
German by E. Frauwallner (1930), while his Nyaya-mukha
was translated into English from its Chinese and Tibetan ver­
sions by G. Tucci (1930). His Nyaya-pravesa was recons­
tructed from Haribhadra’s commentary and the Chinese and
Tibetan versions by N. D. Mironov (1931). To Th. Stcher­
batsky belongs the credit of editing the Nyaya-bindu of Dhar-
maklrti with Dharmottora’s commentary (Bibl. Bud., 1918),
and with the sub-commentary of Mallavadin (1909) as well
as that of publishing its translation into Russian (1903) and
into English, Buddhist Logic, Vols. 1 and 2 <1930). The Tibe-
tan version of the same work with VinTtadeva's commentary
was published by L. de la Vallee Poussin (Bibl. Ind., 1908 —
1913). Among other works by the same author, the Santanan-
tara-siddhi with VinTtadeva's commentary was edited by Th.
Stcherbatsky (Bibl. Bud.. 1916) and translated with explana­
tory notes by the same scholar (1922). His Sambandha-
jw iksa (Tibetan and Sanskrit texts) with the commentary of
Sankaranandana and his Ksanabhanga-siddhi were trans­
lated into German by E. Frauwallner (1934, 1935). The
Madhyamakavatara of Candrakirti was edited after the Tibe­
tan version by Vallee Poussin (Bibl. Bud., 1912) after having
been translated with the author's commentary into French
by the same scholar (1907 II). Among still later works,
Santideva’s Siksa-samuccaya was edited by C. Bendall (Bibl.
Bud., 1902) and was translated into English by C. Bendall
and W.H.D. Rouse (Indian Texts Series, 1922). The Bodhi-
caryavatara by the same author was edited with the commen­
tary of Prajfiakaramati by Vallee Poussin (Bibl. Ind., 1901 —
14). It was translated into French by Vallee Poussin (1907)
and by L. Finot (1920), into German by Richard Schmidt
(1923) and into Italian by G. Tucci. The Mongolian version
of this work was published (Bibl. Bud.) in 1921. Selected
texts of the Prajna-paramita class of works were published by
Max Walleser (1914) and G. Tucci (1923). Equal progress
has been made in the publication of catalogues, dictionaries
and bibliographies. An encyclopaedic dictionary of Bud­
dhism after the Chinese and Japanese sources called Hobo-
girin was started in 1929 under the direction of S. Levi and
J. Takakusu and the chief editorship of Paul Demieville. Three
fasciculi of this work were published up to 1937. Mention
may be made in this connection of Index of the Tanjur after
the catalogue of P. Cordier, published by M. Lalou (Paris,
1933), Catalogue of the Sanskrit and Prakrit Manuscripts in
the library of the India Office (London) with a supplement
of Buddhist manuscripts by F. W. Thomas (Oxford, 1935)
and Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms by W. E. Soothill
and L. Hodous (London, 1937). Above all, reference should
 be made to the comprehensive work called Buddhist Hybrid
Sanskrit Grammar, Dictionary, and Reader (3 vols., 1953) by
Prof. Franklin Edgerton, which is the first systematic study
on the subject. A reference may also be made to the books
on Buddhist bibliography—that of Hans Ludwig Held
(Deutsche Bibliographie des Buddhimus, 1916), that of
Arthur C. March (Buddhist Bibliography, 1935-36), and lastly,
Bibliographie Bouddhique (1928—50) published in French.
Meanwhile the field of Buddhist Sanskrit studies was
greatly enlarged by the discoveries of numerous records of
the lost civilization of Central Asia by a series of inter­
national expeditions, beginning with the first journey of Sir
Aurel Stein (1900— 1901), financed largely by the Govern­
ment of India. These discoveries have made possible the
recovery of considerable fragments of the Sanskrit Buddhist
canonical and non canonical literature in their original
Sanskrit or in the different languages of Eastern Turkestan.
As for the Sanskrit Buddhist records from Central Asia,
selected Buddhist texts were edited by S. Levi U. A.,
1910) and by Vallee Poussin (J.R.A.S., 1911. 1912. 1913).
In Manuscript Remains of Buddhist Literature (edited by A. F.
Rudolf Hoernle, Vol. I, Oxford, 1916), Hoernle, Liiders,
Pargiter and F. W. Thomas published with parallel versions
the text and translation of the fragments, found in Eastern
Turkestan, of no less than twenty-six Buddhist texts from
the Sanskrit Canon, of which no less than twenty-one belong
to the Vinaya and the Sutrapitaka of both the Hfnayana and
the Mahayana, while two are strotras of the celebrated poet
Matrceta. In a series of publications in German called
Smaller Sanskrit Texts. H. Liiders published the fragments
of three Sanskrit Buddhist dramas* including the §ariputra-
prakarana of Asvaghosa (1911), as well as those of Kalpana-
mandi(ika of KumSralata (1926), while E. Waldschmidt
edited the fragments of the Bhiksunl-pratimoksa of the Sarvas-
tivadin school (1926) and the first volume of fragments of the
Buddhist sutras from the Central Asian Sanskrit Canon
(1932). Other fragments of this Canon, with parallel texts
 in Pali, Tibetan and Chinese, were published by H. Hoffmann
(Bibl. Bud., 1939). Fragments of the Sanskrit Udana-varga
of Dharmatrata were published by R. Pischel (S.B.A.,
1908), S. I iv i and Valles Poussin (J.A., 1910— 12; J.R.A.S.,
1911— 12). E. Waldschmidt published other fragments of
the Sanskrit Canon with the parallel Tibetan and Chinese
versions, namely, the Mahaparinirvana-sutra (3 vols., 1950 —
51) and the Mahavadana-sOtra (Part 1, 1953). The Sanskrit
text of the Saia-pancaSatika, a hymn of 150 verses, of the
poet Matrceta was published with its Tibetan and Chinese
versions and the Tibetan commentary by D. B. Shackleton
Bailey (Cambridge, 1951). As regards the records preserved
in the newly discovered Indo-European language of Central
Asia, S. Ldvi published with a French translation a series
of texts in the ‘Tokharian A ’ or more properly the ‘Kuchean*
dialect (Paris, 1933), while E. Sieg and W. Siegling edited
another series of texts in the sister dialect called ‘Tokharian
B’ or more properly Kara-shahrian (1921). Among the Bud­
dhist records preserved in the newly discovered Soghdian
and Khotanese, less properly called Saka or North-Aryan,
branches of the old Iranian language, fragments were pub­
lished by E. Leumann in his German works called North-
Aryan Language and Literature (1912), Maitreyasamiti
(1919) and Buddhist Literature, North-Aryan and German
(1920). Another work in German called The North-Aryan
(Saka) Didactic Poem of Buddhism was published with a
translation, based on E. Leumann's work, by Manu Leumann
(1933—34). Fragments of Buddhist manuscripts in Soghdian
from the Turfan collection were published by W. Lentz
(1934) out of the literary remains of F. W. K. Muller.
The transcript and translation of Soghdian manuscripts
in the British Museum were published by H. Reichelt
in two volumes, of which the first volume (1928) deals
with Buddhist texts. In his French work on Soghdian
texts, E. Benveniste published twenty-three texts, mostly
Buddhist, with translations and notes (1940). In the work.
Manuscript Remains, mentioned above, Sten Konow pub­
lished two complete Khotanese manuscripts with an English
translation and parallel Sanskrit and Tibetan versions. An
edition of the Khotanese Dharmapada was published by
H. W. Bailey (1945) and a volume of Khotanese Buddhist
texts was edited by the same scholar (1951). Buddhist texts
in Uigurian. an old Turkish language, were published by
F. W. K. Muller in various German journals (1908—31). The
Uigur text of the Suvarnaprabhasa-sutra was published by
W. Radiol? (Bibl. Bud., 1913—15) and translated into German
by the same scholar (1930). A series of texts was published
(1930—31) by W. Bang and A. von Gabain in the series
called Uigurish Studies and Uigurica.

In the East
1. India. -Among the factors which were largely respon­
sible for directing the attention of the Indian intelligentsia
towards the study of India’s past, and particularly the study of
the Buddha's life and that of the Buddhist religion, were the
works of early Indologists like Sir William Jones (1746—94)
and H. T. Colebrook who arrived in Calcutta in 1782.
Later, in 1847, Christian Lassen published in German his
work on Indian antiquities. The public interest received
further stimulus through the discovery of sites connected with
the history of Buddhism in northern India by explorers and
archaeologists like Prinsep (1799—1843) and Cunningham.
Works like Buddha Gaya (1874), Sanskrit Buddhist Litera­
ture of Nepal (1882) and Lalitavistara (1887) by Rajendralal
Mitra, the accounts of the travels of Sarat Chandra Das in
Tibet and the publication by him erf some Buddhist works
also aroused considerable interest in Buddhist studies.
The Buddhist Text Society was founded in 1892 and
work in the field of Buddhist studies started in Bengal. An
account of the pioneer work done in this sphere in
Bengal is given elsewhere in this chapter. Besides Sarat
Chandra Das and Satish Chandra Vidyabhushan, Mahamaho-
padhyaya Hara Prasad Shastri was also a stalwart in this field
of scholarship. His Bauddha Gdna O Doha (1716) made
 Bengali scholars realize the need for Buddhist studies.
Advayavajra-sahgraha, a work he published in the Gaikwad
Oriental Series (No. 60, 1927), contains twenty small works of
Advayavajra, a teacher of the Adikarmapradipa school of
the 11th century. He also edited the Catuhsatika in
Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. III. His works
are especially valued for their learned introductions.
The work started by these pioneers in Bengal is being
continued by several living scholars among whom may be
mentioned Mahamahopadhyaya Vidhushekhar Shastri of
Santiniketan and of Calcutta University. He is well known
for his studies in Pali, Sanskrit and Tibetan. He wrote
Pali Prakdsa, a Pali grammar in Bengali, Pdtimokkha with
notes in Bengali and a few chapters of the Milinda-panha
which were published in Bengali script with a Bengali trans­
lation. To him also goes the credit for having edited the
Mahayana-vimsika of Nagarjuna. Aryadeva's Catuhsatika,
which he retranslated into Sanskrit from Tibetan (Visva-
Bharati, 1931), the Tibetan text of the Nyaya-pravesa (G.O.S.
No. 39, 1927), the Bhota-prakasa (Cal. Univ., 1939), an
excellent introductory book for a student of Sanskrit wishing
to learn Tibetan and the Agama-sastra of Gaudapada (Cal.
Univ., 1943), which according to him shows definite Buddhist
influence. Furthermore, his Basic Conception o f Buddhism
(1934) is a very lucid exposition of the fundamentals of
Buddhism. Even at his age he is working on the Sanskrit
text of the Yogacarabhumi-sastra and it is expected that it
Avill soon see the light of day.
Dr. B. C. Law, a veteran and versatile scholar in the
various branches of Indology —Buddhism, Jainism, History,
Geography and the Sociology of Ancient India has to his
credit more than fifty-five volumes. His History of Pali
Literature in two volumes (1933) and his work on Buddha-
ghosa are well known to students of Pali literature. He has
edited in Pali the Thupavarpsa (P.T.S., 1935), the Dathavamsa
(text and English translation, 1925) and the Cariya-pitaka
(revised edition, in the Bhandarkar Oriental Series, Vol. IV),
 the last two in the Nagari script. He has also translated
these texts. His independent books, Study of Mahdvastu,
Women in Buddhist Literature, Concept of Buddhism, India
as described in Early Texts of Buddhism and Jainism, show
keen insight. He has translated into English the Buddha-
vaipsa, the Commentary on the Katha-vatthu (Debates Com­
mentary, 1940) and the Sasanavarpsa (1952). He has written
memoirs on Sravasti. Rajagrha, Kausambi and Pancalas as
well as monographs on the Magadhas of Ancient India,
Asvaghosa and on the Chronicles of Ceylon. His two books.
Tribes in Ancient India (B.O.S., No. 4) and Mountains and
Rivers of India are very useful to students of Ancient India.
His collection of essays in Indological Studies (Parts 1—-3,
1950—54), and his Historical Geography of Ancient India
are also a mine of information for students of Indology. A
striking characteristic of all his work is that he carefully sup­
plies references to substantiate his statements.
The late Prof. Barua, a worthy colleague of Dr. B. C.
Law, was the head of the Pali Department at Calcutta
University for a number of years and we have already given
some account of his works elsewhere. Dr. Nalinaksha Dutt
was his successor. His Aspects of Mahayana Buddhism and
its Relation to Hfnayana (1930) gives to students of JBuddhism
a clear idea of the evolution of Buddhism from the simple
teachings of the Buddha contained in the early texts of the
orthodox school to the highly abstruse philosophical tenets
of the Mahayana school. He has edited the PancavimSati
Prajnaparamita (1934) and what is most creditable is the fact
that he discovered and brought to light a large collection of
Gilgit Manuscripts, which he has now published in eight
volumes. The important texts contained in these voulmes
are the Samadhiraja-sutra and the Vinaya-vastu (unfortunately
incomplete) of the Mula-sarvastivada school. The latter text
is a remarkable discovery as it brings to light a Sanskrit text
of the Vinaya corresponding to the Pali Vinaya. A compara­
tive study of these two Vinayas reveals clearly the chronologi­
cal relation between the two, namely, that the Sanskrit text
 is indicative of a later and more developed form of the
monastic institution of the Buddhists. From the linguistic
point of view also, these texts reveal that they must have
been based upon some Pali-Prakrit original as the idioms
used in them are those of Pali-Prakrit texts. As in the case
of several Buddhist Sanskrit works, they reveal incorrect
Sanskritization of the Pali-Prakrit words. Care has been
taken by Dr. Dutt to supply corresponding Tibetan readings
at places where the Sanskrit original is not clear. He has
also given indexes but one is rather disappointed at their
meagreness. His Early Monastic Buddhism in two volumes
(1941—45) will be found readable even by laymen. He has
also published the first three chapters of the Sphutartha-
abhidharma-kosa-vyakhya. He has edited another Buddhist
text, the Saddharma-pundarika, for the Bibliotheca Indica
Series (1952), with N. D. Mironov’s readings from the Central
Asian Manuscripts.
The University of Calcutta has produced several Buddhist
scholars. Dr. N. P. Chakravarty, the former Director-
General of Archaeology, has to his credit UUdanavarga
Sanskrit (Paris, 1930). Prof. Satkari Mookerjee has given
us The Buddhist Philosophy of Universal Flux (Calcutta,
1936). The late Dr. P. C. Bagchi has given us Studies in the
Tantras (Cal. Univ., 1939) and two works on Sanskrit
Lexicography (Deux Lexiques Sanskrit-Chinois, 1929, 1937).
His main work, Le Canon Bouddhique en Chine (1927, 1938),
is highly useful inasmuch as it gives us information about
the books in the Chinese Tripitaka. Dr. U. N. Ghoshal has
added to our knowledge of Buddhism in Greater India by
his Ancient Indian Culture in Afghanistan (1928) and by his
highly informative article, “Progress of Greater Indian
Research (1917—42)”, in the Progress of Indie Studies
(Poona, 1942). Nagendranath Vasu has written Modern
Buddhism and its Followers in Orissa (Cal. Univ., 1911). Dr.
Anukul Chandra Banerjee has made a study of the different
sects of Buddhism and given the Sanskrit text of the
Praiimoksa of the Mula-sarvastivada school fr»m a Gilgit
manuscript (Indian Historical Quarterly, 1953). Dr. B. R.
Chatterjee tells us how Indian culture, both as Brahmanism
and Buddhism, penetrated into Cambodia in his Indian Cul­
tural Influence in Cambodia (1928). Prof. R. C. Majumdar
treats the same subject in his books, Champs (1937) and
Suvarnadvipa (1938). He has recently published in NSgarl
characters Inscriptions of Kambuja (1953) which throws light
on the condition of Buddhism in that country. Dr. Nihar-
Ranjan Ray has written Sanskrit Buddhism (1936) and
Theravada Buddhism (1946) which deal with Buddhism in
Burma. R. C. Mitra of Santiniketan gives us the history of
the decay of Buddhism in his Decline of Buddhism in India
(1955/ while Prof. Gokuldas De has written a book.
Democracy in Early Buddhist Sangha (1955). Manindra
Mohan Bose has given us an account of the later forms of
Buddhism in Bengal in his Post-Chaitanya Sahajiya Cult of
Bengal (1930). S. Yamakami’s book. System of Buddhistic
Thought (1912), traces the growth of thought in Buddhist
philosophy of both the Hinayana and the Mahayana schools.
In order to popularize the study of Pali books generally,
some texts were printed in Bengali script and several were
translated into the Bengali language. Among the former
may be mentioned the Thera-gatha, the Theri-gatha, the
Majjhirna, the Mula-pannasaka, the Mahavagga, the Bud-
dhavamsa, the Digha, Vol. I, the Pacittiya, and the Udana
published by the Buddhist Mission in Rangoon. Among
the Bengali translations are those of the Jatakas by Ishan
Chandra Ghosh, of the Dhammapada by Charu Chandra
Ghosh, of the Thera and Theri-gatha by Bejoy Chandra
Majumdar, of the Suttanipata by Bhikku Shala Bhadra
and of the Udana and the Majjhirna. This shows that even
common people are interested in reading Pali books in
translation, if not in the original.
Among the important centres of Buddhist studies in
eastern India are Santiniketan in West Bengal and Patna
and Nalanda in Bihar. Under the direction of Prof. Vidhu-
shekhar Shastri in the early years and of the late Dr. P. C.
Bagchi since 1945, research in Sanskrit-Tibetan and Sanskrit-
Chinese studies was conducted at Cheenabhavan and
Vidyabhavan, two well-known research institutions. Several
valuable papers and books have appeared in the Visva-
Bharati Series and the Visva-Bharati Studies since 1932; in
the Visva-Bharati Annals since 1947; and in the Sino-Indian
Studies since 1945. In Vol. V of Visva-Bharati Annals a
scholarly study by Shri K. Venkatramanan has appeared in the
form of an English translation of the Sammitiy -nikaya-sastra.
In the volumes of Sino-Indian Studies Dr. Bachow (now at
Ceylon University) has given us comparative studies of the
Mahaparinibbana-sutta and of the Pratimoksa-sutra1. Prof.
Aiyyaswamy Shastri has retranslated into Sanskrit several
Tibetan and Chinese translations of original Sanskrit texts
that have disappeared. Some of the important works of
this type are the Alambana-pariksa and its Vrtti by Dinnaga
(1942), the Salistamba-sutra (1950), the Karalalaratna of
Bhayaviveka (1949) and the Dvadasamukha-sastra (1955) of
Nagarjuna. Prof. Shantibhikshu Shastri has written Maha-
yana (1950) in Hindi and has given his own Sanskrit render­
ing of the Chinese translations of Vasubandhu’s Bodhicittot-
pada-sutra-sastra (1949), of Ghosaka’s Abhiddharmamrta
(1953) and the first two chapters of the Jnana-prasthana, to
be followed by the rest. Shri Sujit Kumar Mukhopadhyay*
has given us the Tri-svabhava-nirdesa (1939) of Vasu­
bandhu, the Sardula-karnavadana (1955) and a Bengali
translation of Santideva’s Bodhicaryavatara (1947).
Prof. Pralhad Pradhana of Orissa has given us a Deva­
nagari edition from an incomplete manuscript of the Abhi-
dharma-samuccaya (1950). It is understood that he has
also prepared a Devanagari edition of the Abhidharmakosa-
bhasya from a manuscript now at Patna in the collection of
Rahul Sankrityayan. This is expected to be published
soon by the Kashiprasada Jayaswal Research Institute of
Patna. Another manuscript from the same collection, the
1. This has now appeared as a separate volume, published (1955) by the
Sino-Indian Society, Santiniketan.
 Abhidharma-pradipa, is being edited for that Institute by
Prof. Padmanabh Jaini of Banaras. In 1953 that Institute
published the Pramana-vartika-bhasya or the VSrtika-
alarikara. edited by Rahul Sankrityayana, and the Dharmot-
.tara-pradipa of Durveka, edited by Prof. Malvania. Other
Vinaya texts of the Lokottaravada school—the Bhiksu-
prakirnaka and the Bhiksuni-prakTrnaka—have been traced to
the same collection and it is understood that Dr. A. D.
Altekar, Honorary Director of that Institute, is taking steps
to* have them published in the near futuje. Another Buddhist
Sanskrit Tantric text, the Ratnagotra-vibhaga, has been
edited by Dr. Johnston and published in Patna.
The Government of Bihar has started a Pali Institute
at Nalanda under the direction of the Rev. Jagadish Kashyap
and the Government of India has entrusted to it the work
of publishing the Pali Tripitaka. The first work under­
taken by the Institute is the Mahavagga of the Vinaya.
In Uttar Pradesh, the workers of the Mahabodhi Sabha
at Sarnath have given us several Buddhist texts—both Pali
texts in the Devanagari script and Hindi translations of
Pali books. The great explorer, Rahul Sankrityayana, with
the help of his colleagues, Anand Kausalyayana and Jaga-
dish Kashyap, has given us in Devanagari characters eleven
books of the Khuddaka-nikaya, with the exception of Jataka,
Niddesa, Patisambhida and Apadana. Rahul Sankrityayana
has also given us a Hindi translation of the Digha-nikaya,
the Majjhima-nikaya and the Vinaya (the Patimokkha, the
Mahavagga and the Cullavagga). In addition he has writ­
ten in Hindi a book entitled Buddhacarya, which includes
a life of the Buddha, along with Hindi translations of several
Pali suttas. The Rev. Ananda Kausalyayan has given us a
Hindi translation of 500 Jatakas in six volumes which
have already been published. The rest are expected to
follow shortly. The Rev. Jagadish Kashyap has translated
into Hindi the Milinda-panha (1937) and the Udana (1938) and
given us an excellent edition of the Moggallana-Vyakarana
along with its Hindi translation (1940). Bhikshu Dharma-
ratna is credited with a Hindi translation and a Devanagari
edition of the Suttanipata (1951). The first 150 Jatakas
have been edited by Bhikkhu Dhammarakkhita and brought
out by the Bharatiya Jnana-pltha in Devanagari characters
(Banaras, 1944). The Samyutta-nikaya has been translated
into Hindi in two volumes by Bhikshus J. Kashyap and
Dharmarakshita. The latter has also translated the Dhamma­
pada with illustrative stories. The Theri-gatha in Hindi by
Bharat Singh Upadhyaya, the Pali Jatakavali by
Batuknath Sharma and the Mahaparinirvana-sutra, text and
Hindi translation, by Bhikshu Kittima (Sarnath. 1941) are
other important publications.
In the field of Sanskrit Buddhist books, Rahul Sankritya­
yana /has made an effort to restore the Abhidharma-kosa-
karika (1931) with the help of Yasomitra’s commentary,
Sphutartha-abhidharma-kosa-vyakhya, and with the help of
the notes in Louis de la Vallee Poussin’s translation of the
Abhidharma-kosa-karika with a bhasya. He has also given
the Sanskrit texts of the Vadanyaya (1936), the Pramana-
vartika and the Varlikalankara (Patna, 1953), besides
publishing Buddha-darsana in Hindi. On the same sub­
ject there exists a very fine book in Hindi, Bauddha Darsana-
mimamsa, by Pandit Baldeva Upadhyaya (Chaukhamba
Series, Banaras, 1954) and Saugata Siddhantasara-sangraha
with a Hindi translation by Dr. Chandradhar Sharma
(Banaras). The late Acarya Narendradeva, another scholar
of Uttar Pradesh, prepared a Hindi translation of La Vallee
Poussin’s French translation of the Abhidharmakosa-bhasya.
Only the first chapter of this book has been printed so far.
Dr. Herbert V. Guenther of Lucknow University has tried in
his book. Yuganaddha (Chaukhamba Series, 1952), to re­
move certain misconceptions about the exact import of
what appear to an uninitiated reader to be corrupt Tantric
practices. Like Anagarika Govinda, he points out the
symbolic nature of various statements in the Tantric- texts.
Anagarika Govinda. who has adopted this country for his
mother-land, has Shown us the psychological nature of the
Buddhist philosophy of Abhidhamma in his Patna Univer­
sity Lectures for 1927 (The Psychological Attitude of Early
Buddhist Philosophy). In his Some Aspects of StQpa
Symbolism (Kitabistan, Allahabad), he has revealed certain
secrets in the construction of Buddhist stupas and given
their symbolic interpretation. Prof. T. R. V. Murti, now
of Banaras Hindu University, has given a study of the
Madhyamika system in his Central Philosophy of Buddhism
(1955).
Dr. Chou Hsiang Kuang, Head of the Chinese Depart­
ment of Allahabad University, recently gave us A History
of Chinese Buddhism (1955), which tells the story of Indo-
Chinese relations since the introduction of Buddhism in
China. It throws light on the state of Buddhism in different
parts of China and its rise and fall through the centuries.
The life of Yuan Chwang is a useful appendix to the book,
but it is disappointing that no index has been given.
Dr. Raghu Vira, of the International Academy of Indian
Culture, Nagpur, recently undertook tours of exploration in
China, Mongolia and Central Asia and is reported to have
been successful in securing copies of a translation of the
Chinese Tripitaka into the Mongolian and Manchurian
languages and in securing several Mongolian paintings and
statues.
Bombay, Poona and Baroda are the active centres of
Buddhist studies in western India. Elsewhere is given an
account of the life of the late Prof. Dharmananda Kosambi,
the pioneer of Buddhist studies, especially in Pali, in
western India. His pupils have been working at all these
centres, and with the sympathy and encouragement given
to Buddhist studies by the late Sayajirao Maharaja, the
ruler of Baroda. several books were published in the Gaik-
wad Oriental Series under the direction of B. Bhattacharya.
There have also been published some texts of Buddhist
logic and philosophy like the Nyayapravesa (1930), edited by
A. B. Dhruv, Pre-Dinnaga Buddhist Works on Logic (1930)
from the Chinese by Prof. Tucci, the Tattva-sangraha (1926)
 *

of Santaraksita, edited by Pandit Embar Krishnamacharya,

with its translation (1937, 1939) in separate volumes by
Dr. Ganganath Jha. Some Tantric works, too, such as the
Advayavajra-sangraha (1927), edited by Mahamahopadhyaya
Hara Prasad Shastri. Two Vajrayana Works (1929), Srl-
guhyasamaja-tantra (1931), and the Sadhana-mala (1925,
1928), edited by B. Bhattacharya have been brought out in
the same series. B. Bhattacharya also published a book en­
titled Buddhist Esoterism (1932). Prof. C. V. Joshi has
given us Manual of Pali for Pali students. He has also
edited for the Pali Text Society the Saddhamtnappakasim
(1933—47), the commentary on the Patisambhida-magga,
translated several Jataka stories into Marathi and written
a life of the Buddha for children. In addition, he has edited
the Marathi translation of the Digha-nikaya, Vols. II and
III, by the late Prof. C. V. Rajwade.
The University of Bombay has undertaken to publish
Pali books in the Devanagari script for the use of Univer­
sity students, under the general editorship of Prof. N. K.
Bhagvat of St. Xavier’s College. Of the ten books so far
brought out, the Milinda-panha, edited by Prof. R. D.
Vadekar of Poona, is generally considered to be the best.
The remaining works, the Nidanakatha (of the Jatakas), the
Mahavamsa. the Dlgha (Vols. I and II), the Majjhirna,
the Thera-gatha, the Theri-gatha and the Mahavagga in two
volumes have all been edited by Prof. Bhagvat himself. He
has also brought out editions of the Khuddakapa(ha, the
Dhammapada (published by the Buddha Society, Bombay),
the Paritta, a few selections from the Jatakas (Jataka-katba-
sandoha), and the BuddhaghosuppattL
Prof. P. V. Bapat, successor to the late Prof. Dharmanand
Kosambi at Fergusson College, gave as early as 1924 a cri­
tical edition of the Suttanipata in Devanagari characters,
with parallel passages culled from Otto Franke’s work on the
same subject. The book also contains extracts from the com­
mentary, an introduction and several indexes. Later, in
1939, Prof. Bapat published Vimuttimagga and Visuddhi•
 magga: A Comparative Study. In collaboration with Prof.
R. D. Vadekar, his colleague at Fergusson College, Prof.
Bapat brought out critical editions in Devanagari of the
Dhamma-sarigani (1940) and the Atthasalini (1942) in the
Bhandarkar Oriental Series (paras 2 and 3), accompanied by
introductions and indexes. As a result of research at Cheena-
bhavan at Santiniketan, Bengal, he translated into English
the Chinese version of the Arthapada-sutra (1945, 1950),
corresponding to the Pali A|thakavagga of the Suttanipata,
which was also included in Devanagari characters on the
opposite pages. In the article, ‘Shan-Chien-pi-p’o-sha’, he
published the results of his comparative study of the Pali
commentary on the Vinaya, entitled Samanta-pasadika and
its Chinese version translated by Sanghabhadra towards the
end of the 5th century A.D. (University of Ceylon Review,
April 1949). A second edition of his Suttanipata has appeared
with a Marathi translation by Prof. Dharmanand Kosambi
revised by him in the Dharmanand Swarada Sahitya (No. 4.
1955). The most important of his scholarly articles such as
“Tadi, Tayi, Tayin” in D. R. Bhandarkar Commemoration
Volume (I, pp. 249—258, 1940). “Nekkhamma” in B. C.
Law Memorial Volume (No. 2, pp. 260—66, 1946), “ Saptanga-
pratisthita” in Radha Kumud Mookerjee Volume (1945),
“Paliatthika” and “Saraniya” in Vdk (1951, 1952) are of
lexicographical interest. Another article by him in “Siddha-
bharati” (Siddheshvar Varma Memorial Volume, 1950)
deals with the close relation between the Pali and Vedic lan­
guages. An article by him on Middha and Middhavadins
appeared in F. W. Thomas Commemoration Volume (1939).
Another major work, which is soon to be published, is an
English translation, made in collaboration with the late Prof.
J. H. Woods of Harvard University, of the famous encyclo­
paedic work of the Visuddhimagga by the Pali scholiast,
Buddhaghosa.
Prof. R. D. Vadekar, whose name has already been men­
tioned, has to his credit a Devanagari edition of the Pati-
mokkha (Bhandarkar Oriental Series, 1939) and the Milinda-
 panha (Bombay University Devanagari Pali Texts Series).
Dr. V. V. Gokhale, also of Fergusson College, has spe­
cialized in Mahayana studies in Tibetan and Chinese. He
published his thesis on the Pratitya-samutpada of Ullangha
(Bonn, 1930), translated into Chinese by Dharmagupta and
Amoghavajra. The original Sanskrit Karikas, an incomplete
commentary by an unknown author (1940), of Nagarjuna’s
Pratitya-samu tpada-hrdaya, were discovered by him at Lhasa
(1950) and are in his possession. These have now been edit­
ed and are being published in German in the Kirfel Comme­
moration Volume at Bonn. He has tried to restore into the
original Sanskrit a Madhyamaka text, the Aksara-sataka of
Aryadeva, with the help of the Tibetan and Chinese versions.
He has also given us a full text of the Abhidharma-kosa-
karika (Journal of the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic
Society, 1946), based on an actual manuscript of the Sanskrit
text. He tells us about a Brahmi inscription carved in stone
discovered in Tun-huang (Sino-Indian Studies, Vol. I, Part I.
pp. 19—23). He published, in the Journal of the Bombay
Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society of Bombay
(Vol. 23, 1947), fragments from the Abhidharma-
samuccaya of Asaiiga. The Subasita-ratnakosa of Vidya-
kara, a Buddhist anthology of more than 1,700 verses, dating
from about the 11th century A.D. is being edited jointly by
him and Prof. D. D. Kosambi and will soon be published in
the Harvard Oriental Series with the co-operation of Prof.
Ingalls of Harvard University.
Prof. P. L. Vaidya has tried to restore the Sanskrit text
of the Catuhsataka, Chapters V III—XVI, from its Tibetan
translation. He has written a book in Marathi on the origin
aod spread of Buddhism (Bauddha Dharmaca A bhyudaya
at}.i Prasara, Poona, 1927). He is now engaged in publishing
representative passages on Buddhism from the Pali and Sans­
krit texts and it is expected that his work will soon be
published under the title Bauddhagamartha Sangraha.
Scholars from South India have also been working in the
field of Buddhist studies. The first chapter of Dinnaga's
 Pramana-samuccaya has been given in Sanskrit (1930) by
H. R. R. Aiyangar of Mysore. In his Early History of the
Andhra Country (1941) Gopala Chari has given a good deal
of information about Buddhist sects in the Deccan and
Andhra. Dr. K. R. Subrahmaniam has written a memoir,
Buddhist Remains in Andhra (1932), while Dr. T. N. Ram-
chandran has contributed a fine memoir on Nagarjunakonda
(1938). Dr. Krishnaswamy Aiyangar, Mahamahopadhyaya
Swaminath Aiyar and Prof. N. Aiyyaswamy have shown from
the Tamil poem, Manimekhalai, how Buddhism dominated
the people of Tamilnad at one time. T. Ganapati Shastri’s
discovery of the Manjusri-mulakalpa and its publication in
the Trivandrum Series reveal that Tantrism existed in South
India also. Dr. P. C. Alexander of Shri Narayan College,
Quilon, has traced the history of Buddhism in south-western
India right down to modern times in his book, Buddhism in
Kerala (Annamalainagar, 1949), in which he proves that
Buddhism flourished in that region up to the ninth century
A.D. Unfortunately, the universities in South India do not
appear to have taken too kindly to Pali or Buddhist-Sanskrit
studies.
2. Ceylon1.— Owing to the domination of the Portu­
guese, Dutch and British since the invasion of Ceylon by
the Portuguese in 1505, Buddhism fell to such a low ebb
that Kittisiri Rajasingh (1746—1779 A.D.), the ruler of the
Kandyan Province, had to send emissaries to Siam to find
Buddhist Elders for the re-establishment of the higher ordi­
nation in Ceylon. Other groups went with a similar pur­
pose to Burma, at the beginning of the 19th century and
thus were established in Ceylon three fraternities—Siamese.
Burmese (Upper Burma), and Ramanna (Lower Burma). The
British captured the island in 1815 and the evils of foreign
rule were in no way mitigated. The education of the young
was left to Christian missionaries. None the less, two pro­
minent schools of Buddhism were established by the Vener-
1. The author is indebted to the Rev. A. P . B uddhadatta of Amba-
langoda, Ceylon* for much of the information in this account.
 able Piyaratanatissa of Dodanduwa. A controversy took
place between the Christians and the Buddhists in which the
latter were triumphant. Colonel Olcott read an account
of this controversy in the newspapers and came to Ceylon
in 1880. He himself became a Buddhist and encouraged
local Buddhists to establish their own schools. He exercised
considerable influence over the younger generation and
founded the Theosophical Society of Colombo which now
controls over 350 Buddhist educational institutions including
some first-grade colleges. Two religious schools of the old
system of education for monks were established—the Vidyo-
daya Oriental College, Colombo (1872), and the VidySlankSra
College at Kelaniya (1873) near Colombo. There are now
more than 200 institutions connected with these colleges
which are still engaged in educational work. The venerable
elders saw the necessity of having Pali literature printed for
the people and books were thus published both in Pali and
Sanskrit. The publication of the Mahavamsa and its transla­
tion into Simhalese were undertaken by the Venerable
H. Sumangala, the Principal of the Vidyodaya College, and
Pandit Batuwantudawe. The Abhidhanappadipika, a Pali
lexicon, and the Namamala were edited by the Venerable
SubhOti. At the request of Sir Robert Chalmers, then
Governor of Ceylon, the commentary on the Majjhima-
nikaya was edited by the Venerable Dhammarama, the
second Principal of the Vidyalankara College. The Vener­
able Seelakkhandha of Sailabimbarama, Dodanduwa, wrote
Saddharma-makaranda. (Kolhapur, 1914), a life of the
Buddha in Sanskrit and commentaries on the Bhakti-sataka
(Darjeeling, 1896), written by Pandita Ramacandra Bharati
(middle of the 13th century A.D.) who had become a
Buddhist, and on the Aniruddha-£ataka. He also edited the
Trikandasesa-kosa, the Daivajiia-kamadhenu and the Vrttarat-
nakara-pafijika which were published in India in Devanagari
script.
Under the influence of Colonel H. S. Olcott, a young
enthusiast, called David Hewavitarane, who later came to
 be known as Anagarika Dharmapala, felt the urge to strive
for a revival of Buddhism. He lectured to rural audiences
in Ceylon and later came to India. It was his religious
fervour and missionary zeal that led to the founding of the
Maha Bodhi Society in 1891.
Simon Hewavitarane, the youngest brother of Anagarika
Dharmapala, left a large legacy which was to be used for the
printing and publishing of Pali books. So far 49 volumes of
commentaries on the canonical texts of the Pali Tripitaka
have been published. Among the published texts are the
Cariya-pitaka (1950). the Parajika. the first volume of the
Vinaya-pitaka (I950>, the Dhammasangani (1952), and the
Jataka PalifgStha, 1954).
Stray volumes of the Tipitaka and commentaries were
also published at the end of the 19th and the beginning of
the 20th century, but most of these books and commen­
taries, including those in the Simon Hewavitarane Series, are
now out of print. The Abhidhammattha-vibhavani (1933)
and the Atthasalini-mula Tika (1938), published in the Vidyo-
daya Tika Publication Series, may also be mentioned. In the
Manatunga Series, too, there appeared three volumes of the
Dlgha-nikaya (1929). One very interesting tika on the
Samanta-pasadika, the Vimati-vinodani by Coliya K a s s a p a ,
was edited and indexed by Dr. H. Gabriel de Silva (1935). It
had been preceded by the Sarattha-dipani (1914), another
tika on the S a m a n t a - D a s a d i k a . which, however, r e m a i n e d
incomplete.
It is now planned to publish afresh the Texts and their
Simhalese translations under the direction of Prof. G. P.
Malalsekera, who is well known for his Pali Literature of
Ceylon (London, 1928) and for his Dictionary of Pali Proper
Names in two volumes (1937-38). A complete edition of
the Cullavagga and portions of the Digha and the Samyutta-
nikayas have already been published with Simhalese transla­
tions. As the Simhalese translations of the Pali Texts arc
in great demand, Dr. A. P. de Soyza, a zealous Buddhist, has
published translations of the Digha, the Majjhirna and the
Samyutta while a translation of the Anguttara-nikaya is in
progress. With the foundation of the University of Ceylon,
particularly since Ceylon achieved independence, new scho­
lars have begun to enter the field. N. A. Jaya Vikrama
has contributed a fine critical commentary on the Suttanipata
(University of Ceylon Review, 1948—50). Prof. O. H. de
Wijesekera has correlated Pali studies with studies in earlier
Vedic literature and his papers on Yaksa, Gandharva and
Indra, as well as some from his former pupil, Charles Godage
(University of Ceylon Review, Vol. I, No. 2, November
1943, and Vol. Ill, April 1945), deserve to be read. In
1946, Dr. Adikaran published his Early History of Buddhism
in Ceylon which is based on original sources in the Pali
Atthakathas
Old style scholars among the monks have also given us
some fine books. The Rev. Widurapola Piyatissa wrote Maha-
kassapa-carita (1934) and Mahanekkhamma Campii (1935),
edited the Jataka-atthakatha in ten volumes, and wrote com­
mentaries on the Netti-pakarana and the Samyutta-nikaya.
The commentaries published in the Simon Hewavitarane
Series are also written by learned Elders.
In order to popularize the study of Pali among school­
children, it was necessary to simplify the teaching of Pali
grammar. In 1912 the Rev. Suriyagoda Sumangala compiled
a graduated Pali course, on the model of Bhandarkar’s
Sanskrit Readers in India. The Rev. A. P. Buddhadatta,
who was given the title of Agga-Mahapandita by the
Burmese Government'in 1954, published New Pali Course,
Parts I (1937) and II (1939), Higher Pali Course, Aids to
Pali Conversation and Concise Pali-English Dictionary (1949).
The Rev. A. P. Buddhadatta has become famous for his
edition of the Visuddhimagga (1914) and of the Apadana
(1930) in Simhalese characters and for his editions, for the
Pali Text Society, of the Namarupa-pariccheda (1914), the
Abhidhammavatara (1915), the Sammoha-vinodani commen­
tary on the Vibhanga (1923), the Vinaya-uttara-vinicchaya
(1928), the Saddhamma-pijjotika (3 vols.) and the commentary
on the Niddesa. He has written numerous scholarly books
in the Simhalese language and recently brought out an Eng-
lish-Pali dictionary (1955). A similar work was prepared
by the Rev. Nidurupolapiyatissa in 1949. He also recently
edited the Visuddhimagga-ganthi, a small commentary in
Simhalese characters explaining intricate points in that work.
It was with his help that a copy of this manuscript in Burmese
characters was obtained from a Burmese monastery near
Ambalangoda. Dr. Vajira-nana Maha Thera wrote a book
entitled Buddhism Outlined in 1951. The Rev. Narada is an
enthusiastic religious missionary and has visited India, the
South-East Asian countries, Europe, Australia, East Africa,
and Nepal. He has written several pamphlets, the most
important of which are Buddhism in a Nutshell, Kamma and
Rebirth, and Buddhist Conception of Consciousness. He has
also written a life of the Buddha along with the text and
translation of Chapter I of the Abhidhammattha-sangaha.
Several editions of the Dhammapada have appeared and one
prepared by B. Siri Sivali (1954) is presented very attractively,
the text being given in the Simhalese and Roman scripts on
pages on the left and the translations in Simhalese and
English on the right.
The Rev. Nyanatiloka. a German Buddhist monk of the
Dodanduwa Island, gave us a very useful book in his Guide
Through the Abhidhamma-pitaka (1938). He has also pre­
pared a German translation of the Visuddhimagga which has
so far been printed only in part. The Government of Ceylon
has awakened to the fact that it, too, must encourage Bud­
dhist studies. Accordingly, the task of publishing the Pali
texts and their Simhalese translations has been entrusted to
the Vidyalarikara authorities. It has also been decided to
bring out a Buddhist encyclopaedia and arrangements are
being made for its preparation under the general editorship
of Prof. G. P. Malalsekera, who has been elected President
of the World Federation of Buddhists.
Incidentally, it may be observed that, under the guidance
of Prof. G. P. Malalsekera of the University of Ceylon, Ceylon
has taken the lead in trying to bring all Buddhist countries
together and to set up the World Fellowship of the Buddhists,
which met in Ceylon (1950), Japan (1952) and Burma (1954).
It proposes to meet for the fourth time at Kapilavastu, the
birthplace of the Buddha in Nepal.
3. Burma’.—As Burma was ruled by its own king right
up to 1886, Buddhism continued to flourish in that country.
The country has been known for a long time for its scholarly
studies in the Tripitaka, especially the Abhidhamma. Its
numerous monasteries contain rich collections of Pali
manuscripts. Mandalay has always been its educational
and religious centre and its monasteries possess many rare
manuscripts. Burma can boast of two or three printing
presses like the Hanthawady Press, the P. G. Mundyne
Pitaka Press and the Zabu Meet Swe Press where Pali
books, the Atthakathas and sub-commentaries on the Abhi­
dhamma are printed. In Burma, there are, even among lay­
men, not a few studying the Abhidhamma. At the beginning
of this century, the more notable among the learned monks
of Burma was Ledi Sayadaw who had specialized in the
Abhidhamma. He wrote on the Yamaka and selections from
it, as well as his article, ‘Philosophy of Relations’, was pub­
lished by the Pali Text Society in 1914 and in 1916. Only
recently, t\vo other great scholars passed away. One of
them, Abhidhaja Maha Rattha-Guru Nyaungyan Sayadaw
(1874—1955), was elected Sahghanayak, or the presiding
Mahathera. He has 10 his credit some 150 manuals on
Buddhism among which are Mahasamaya-sutta, Brahma-
nimantana-sutta, Hemavata-sutta, Silakkhandho-tika and
Namakkara-tika. Another notable scholar was the Venerable
Mingun Sayadaw (1868—1955) of Thaton who wrote
Milinda-atthakathd (1949), Petakopadesa-atthakatha, Kathina-
viniccaya and Nibbana-katha. He was looked upon with
great disfavour by the ecclesiastical authorities as well
as the Government of Burma for having expressed in his com-
1. The author is indebted to Devapraand Guha of the Pali D epartm ent
of the University of Rangoon for certain detail** in this account.
 mentary on the Milinda independent views regarding the
possibility of giving women a higher ordination by the Order
of the Buddhist Monks. Charles Duroiselle made a name
for himself through his writings on various archaeological
finds in Burma and also wrote a small book entitled
Practical Grammar. Z. Aung’s Compendium of Philosophy
(1910), a masterly treatise, is an annotated translation of
the small Abhidhamma manual, the Abbidhammattha-
sangaha. Aung also wrote an account of Abhidhamma litera­
ture in Burma (1912). Later, he translated the KathS-
vatthu into English in Points of Controversy (1915). Mrs.
C. Rhys Davids was his collaborator in the first and third of
the works mentioned above. Prof. Maung Tin gave us the
English translation of the Atthasalini in his Expositor (2
vols., 1920—21), and of the Visuddhimagga in his Path of
Purity (3 vols., 1922—31). We may also mention the
names of the late Ledi Pandit U. Maung Gyi and the late
U. Lin who wrote on subjects relating to the Abhidhamma.
Nor must we forget the Rev. Paniialoka Mahathera who has
written on Abhidhamma subjects in Bengali.
Since Burma became independent, the Burmese Govern­
ment has taken swift measures to bring about the revival of
Buddhism and Buddhist studies. A Buddha Sasana Council
has been established and under its auspices, or perhaps
inspiration, several centres of Buddhist studies have been
opened. It has also been decided to edit afresh the whole
of the Buddhist Tripitaka. Co-operation has been sought
from learned Buddhist monks in India, Pakistan, Ceylon,
Thailand, Cambodia and Laos. With the material supplied
by these countries, the basic text, as recorded in 729 stone
slabs at the Kuthodaw temple in Mandalay, was compared
and a final text established. The Sangayana (recital) of such
a text has already passed through certain stages and the
final stage will be completed on the 2,500th anniversary of
the Lord Buddha’s parinirvana at the full moon of Vaiiakha
in 1956. It is understood that the whole Pali text in Burmese
charactcrs is already in print and the Burmese translation of
the whole of the Tripitaka is nearing completion.
4. Thailand— Buddhism is the State religion of Thailand
and here it never fell on evil days as it did in Ceylon. The
State has a separate administration for religious affairs and
the Government spends large sums of money for the religious
well-being of Buddhists, monks and laity alike.
There are two great institutes of higher learning for the
Buddhist monks—the Maha Makut Raja Vidyalaya Academy
and the Maha Culalankarn Raja Vidyalaya Academy.
Sanskrit is now taught in Bangkok both at COlalankarn
University and at the Academy for Buddhist Monks.
Thailand has always been in the forefront of Buddhist studies
and it is a matter of gratification that as many as forty-five
volumes of the Pali Tripitaka, at least thirty volumes of the
Atthakathas, and ten volumes of the Pakaranas have been
published in Siamese script. A special feature of Siamese
books is that they contain indexes, however meagre they
may be.
It may be noted that the Vajiranana Manuscript Library
at Bangkok has a rich collection of manuscripts, some of
which are extremely rare. There is a new commentary on
the Visuddhimagga, the Sankhapattha-jotani which begins
with the words Svasti Buddhaya (Hail to the Buddha!). In
Thailand also is preserved a rare book, the Sangitivamsa,
which mentions as many as nine councils.1
Pancikd-ndma-atthayojand. a work on the Abhi-
dhammattha-vibhavani (which itself is a tika on the
Abhidhammattha-sangaha), is another rare printed book in
two volumes which have an index. Another book, Manga-
lattha-dipani (1951—53), gives a detailed exposition of the
gathas of the famous Mangala-sutta and is highly spoken of
in Thailand. Other important new books are Jinakala-
malini1 and Samantapasadika-attha-yojana. The very exist­

1. See Chapter IV , p. 51.

2. I t is understood th a t this book has been edited by the Rev. A. P.
B uddhadatta of Ceylon, and will be published in both Simhalese and Roman
characters.
ence of these books is indicative of the importance of the
study of Pali texts, commentaries and sub-commentaries in
Thailand.
The Sixth Council now being held in Rangoon has
induced some Burmese scholars to go to Thailand to preach
the Abhidhamma.
5. Cambodia\ —Although a very small country,
Cambodia has always been a stronghold of Theravada Bud­
dhism. Under the patronage of His Majesty Norodam
Sihanouk Varman (Narottama Simha-hanu Varman) who
recently abdicated in favour of his father in order to be free
to bring about all-round reform in his kingdom, and under
the vigorous guidance of His Eminence Samadach Brah Maha
Sumedhadhipati Chuon-nath, Chief of the Mahanikaya,
Cambodia has made rapid progress in organizing the educa­
tion of the Religious Order and in the propagation of the
Faith among the laity. This little country has as many as
2,800 monasteries with 82,000 monks and novices.
In 1914 the Government opened in Phnom-penh, the
capital of Cambodia, a Pali High School, where young
monks were instructed and given diplomas after four years’
training. The instruction was not confined to religious
subjects but also included subjects useful in the temporal
world. This school has now developed into a college. In
1933, the authorities began to establish elementary Pali
schools where the monks took a three years’ course. Out of
these schools have now developed the schools of Dhamma-
Vinaya, where all monks are trained. This year a Buddhist
University named after Preah Sihanu-Raja has also been
started.
To supplement this programme of religious instruction
in Phnom-penh a Royal Library was opened in 1925 and a

1. The author is grateful to the Venerable Brah Gru Sanghasattha of

the Buddhist College a t Phnom -penh for the material on which this account is
based. Thanks are also due to His Eminence Samde^h Choun-nath, Chief of
the Mahanikaya in Cambodia through whose courtesy th e material was
made available.
Buddhist Institute in 1930. A little later, the Government
appointed a Tripitaka Board consisting of eminent scholars,
who were asked to prepare for publication Pali texts and
their Cambodian translations. The literary output of these
institutions is highly creditable. Out of the 110 volumes
contemplated in the bilingual series, 46 have already been
published. A copy of all the texts of the Pali Canon
written by hand was sent to the Sixth Council (Chaflha
Sangayana) now in session at Rangoon. Among the other
ten volumes published in Pali (1938—54), are the Abhi-
dhamma-matika (1953), the Chappakarana Abhidhamma
(1950), the Abhidhammattha-saftgaha (1938), the Bhikkhu-
patimokkha (1950), the Visuddhimagga (1946) and the
Mangalattha-dipani (1952). No fewer than 187 volumes,
mostly on religious subjects, have been published in the
Cambodian language by the various libraries and institu­
tions already mentioned.
Clearly, Cambodia has made tremendous progress
in the popularization of Pali studies and in the education of
the monks.
6. Laos.—Laos is mostly mountainous and compara­
tively backward. Although the country belongs to the
Theravada school and the Pali Tripitaka forms its sacred
literature, it has few Pali scholars. It appears, however,
that there exist in Laos many texts which are word-to-
word commentaries or Nissayas of the Pali texts. In
Luang-prabang, the capital, in a small temple on the hill,
there is a library of manuscripts in which we find a Laotian
Nissaya of the Visuddhimagga. It begins with the words
Namo tassa (Bhagavato) atthu instead of the usual formula
of Namo tassa Bhagavato Arhato Samma-sambuddhassa
(Bow to the Blessed, the Deserving and Fully Enlightened
Buddha).
In this country, the Jatakas enjoy great popularity and
separate collections of ten and of fifty Jatakas are available.
The order of the ten Jatakas, however, differs from that in
Fausboll’s edition. There is also a collection of fifty Jatakas
 which is current in other countries in South-East Asia, such
as Siam, Cambodia and Burma. What is peculiar to the
independent Laotian version, however, is that it contains 27
stories which are not found in any other collection.1 Lists
of the Jatakas in the collection of the ten and fifty are
given below:

The Ten Jdtakas

1. Temiyakumara 6. Bhuridatta
2. Janakakumara 7. Candakumara
3. Suvannasyama 8. Naradabrahma
4. Nimiraja 9. Vidhurapandita
5. Mahosadha 10. Vessantara

The Fifty Jatakas

1. Samuddaghosakumara 20. Pani1§balakumara
2. Suddhamukumara or 21. Dadhivahana
SutarajakumSra 22. Mahisakumara
3. ^udhanakumara 23. Chaddanta
4. Sirasakumara 24. Campeyyanagaraja
5. Subhamittaraja 25. Bahalagavi
6. Suvannasarikha 26. Kapila
7. Candaghataka 27. Narajivakumara
8. Suvannamiga 28. Siddhisarakumara
9. Suvannakuruftga 29. Kusaraja
10. Setamusiko 30. Jetthakumara
11. Tulakapandita 31. Duttharajakumara
12. Maghamanava 32. Vattakaraja
13. AritthakumSra 33. Narada
14. Ratanapajjota 34. Mahasutasoma
15. Sonandakumara 35. Mahabalaraja
16. BaranasI 36. Brahmaghosaraja
17. Dhammadhajapapdita 37. Sadiraja
18. Dukkammakumara 38. Siridharasetthi
19. Sabbasiddhikumara 39. M3tuposaka or Ajitaraja
1. See Henri Deydier, Introduction a la C onm itm nct du Laos, Saigon,
1052, p. 20.
40. Vimalaraja 46. MahSpadumakumara
41. Arindumaraja 47. Surasenaraja
42. yiriyapandita 48. Siricundamaniraja
43. Adittaraja 49. Kapiraja
44. Suruparaja 50. Kukkura
45. Suvannabrahmadattaraja

In the collection of ten Jatakas, the Temiya and the

Vessantara are popular. There is also a sutta called the
Jambupattisutta. which is peculiar to this country and is
portrayed in the wall paintings of the Library building on
Val Pha Ouak. the hill in Luang-prabang. King Jambu-
patti, wishing to dazzle the Buddha, visited him in great
state, but saw the latter sitting on his throne, beautiful as
a god and dressed in the shining apparel of a King of Kings
(Rajadhiraja). This represents the conception of the
Buddha as the equal of a Cakravarti monarch. In a scene
depicted in a wall painting in this temple, the Buddha is
represented as pointing to Jambupatti the torments he must
suffer if he does not follow the principles of the Vinaya.
7. Viet-Nam (including Viet-Minh)’.—Buddhism was
probably introduced in Viet-Nam towards the end of the
2nd century A.D. when it was under the sway of the Chinese
Emperor. Buddhism in this country went through many
vicissitudes with changes in the political situation. The
country of Viet-Nam belongs to the Mahayana school which
it inherited from China and even the religious books used by
its monks and nuns in the monastic establishments are in
the Chinese language. With the coming of French rule and
the introduction of Roman script in the schools, the younger
generations ceased to read books in Chinese script, which
used to be easy for them as the Viet-Namese language differs
from Chinese only in pronunciation.

1. The m aterial for this account was kindly supplied by Mr. Mai Tho
Truen, President of the Association of B uddhist Studies, South V iet-N am ,
Saigon, through the courtesy of Monsieur Louis Mallret, Director, Ecole
Francaise d’Extreme-Orient, Saigon.
 In the first third of the twentieth century, there arose a
new movement for the revival of Buddhism and Associa­
tions of Buddhist Studies were started at Saigon (1931),
Hue (1932) and Hanoi (1932). The new movement favoured
the use of the Viet-Namese language in Roman script for
their religious books instead of Chinese. An awakening
took place among the monks and the laity and there was a
movement to spread knowledge among the masses. How­
ever, the Second World War (1940—45) interrupted all
these efforts. With the return of peace, renewed efforts at
reorganization were made in 1948 at Hanoi in northern
Viet-Nam with the inspiring initiation and guidance of Their
Eminences, the Reverends To-Lien and Tri-Hai. They
started an orphanage, a private college (at Quan-su Temple
in Hanoi), and a printing press to enable them to carry on
the movement and popularize it among the masses. A
number of religious books in Viet-Namese or in a bilingual
series (Chinese letters with their Viet-Namese pronunciation
in Roman characters) were published. We find several such
books of daily prayers or books held in great reverence by
the people, such as the Ksitigarbha-sutra (Nanjio, 1003) or
the SOrangama-sutra (Nanjio, 399). Journals like Giac-Ng6
were published and became popular. Hanoi being the cul­
tural centre of Viet-Nam, the movement spread from there
towards Hue (in central Viet-Nam) where Buddhist Associa­
tions were also reorganized. A former empress has started
a new school for young nuns where vigorous training is
given and such activities as gardening are included. In
Saigon, too. a new organization for Buddhist studies was
established in 1950 to replace an old one.
In literature, also, we often find echoes of ideas borrowed
from Buddhism—karma, rebirth, suffering in the world,
the law of causation and impermanence. The intelligentsia
is no longer content with the materialism of the West and
is greatly influenced by the five rules of morality (Panca-£ila)
which are the very foundation of Buddhism. The common
people find solace in the worship of Amitabha. There is
also a section of people who are followers of the Pure Land
sect. The ideals of purity and compassion, the dominant
notes of Mahayana Buddhism, and the vegetarianism of the
monks impress the people. Though Mahayana Bud­
dhism is dominant in the country, of late a desire
is rtoticeable among certain people for a return to
the earlier form of orthodox Buddhism (Theravada).
A new temple of this Theravada school, the Jeta­
vana Vihara, has been established in Saigon by the Vene­
rable Vamsarakkhita and the Venerable Nagathera. Re­
cently some relics were taken to this temple by the Rev.
Naradatthera of Ceylon for worship. The Venerable Vam­
sarakkhita Thera published (1953) a small manual of
prayers and a manual of guidance for householders in Pali
with its transcription and interpretation in Viet-Namese.
8. China1.—During the reign of the Manchu Kings of
the Ching Dynasty (1644—1911), Buddhism experienced
vicissitudes of fortune according to the favours or frowns of
the ruling kings. During the reign of Emperor Chien-Lung
(1735—1796), a new Dragon edition of the Chinese Tripi­
taka was brought out. In the same period Mongolian
translations of 270 volumes of the Tibetan Tanjur and a
Manchurian translation of the Chinese Tripitaka were
printed, although in the second half of the Ching period
Buddhism declined in China. Towards the end of Manchu
rule, China was fast coming under the influence of the West
and Buddhist studies experienced a revival in China. The
work of Christian missionaries also had a stimulating effect
on the minds of the rising generation, thus giving a fillip to
research and study in general.
In 1875 A.D., Liu Chih-tien, Minister for China in
Great Britain, persuaded a promising young scholar, Yang
Wen-hui, to go with him to England. There Yang came
in contact with the Rev. Bunyiu Nanjio of Japan, who with
his help prepared the famous Catalogue of the Chinese Tripi-
1. This account is based on Chiou Hsiang K uang’s Indo-Chinese Rela­
tions, and History of Chinese Buddhism (1955).
taka. Yang obtained from Japan many valuable books
which had been lost in China. In 1907, he established a
Buddhist Institute called Jetavana Vihara at Nanking,
where he gathered round him some thirty young men who
took up Buddhist studies as their course of higher educa­
tion. His contemporaries, K ’ang Yu-wei and Tan Szutung,
young intellectuals who advocated reform in Confucianism,
were also affected by Buddhism. After the National Revo­
lution of 1911, the Bu<'1hists of China formed the All-
China Buddhist Association with headquarters at Nanking
and, in the fourth year of the Chinese Republic, they
secured protection for their monasteries from the Ministry
of Home Affairs, who issued a proclamation to that effect.
Monasteries and temples were reconstructed and efforts
were made to popularize Buddhism by organizing lectures
and printing and circulating Buddhist books. The Buddhist
Upasaka Grove and the Buddhist Association of Pure Land
in Shanghai were established. A monastic normal school
and a university of the Dharmalaksana school were estab­
lished at Nanking. Other institutions established were the
Kuan Tsung Preaching Hall of Ningpo, the Avatamsaka
College of Ch’ang Chow, the Buddhist Institute of Wu­
chang, the Sino-Tibet Buddhist College founded by His
Holiness the Rev. T ’ai-Hsu, the Ching-ling Buddhist Aca­
demy, now at Shanghai, and the Cheen Institute of Inner
Learning at Nanking.
Some journals such as Haicchao Ying (The Ocean Tide
Voice), Pure Land Vocation and Inner Learning Journal
were founded. The two Boards set up at Peking and
Tien-tsin for the purpose of engraving the canons published
Epitome of the Chinese Tripitaka. The Kalavinka Vihara
of Shanghai published several small volumes of the Bud­
dhist Tripitaka. The Commercial Press of Shangai has
done the photographic printing of the supplementary books
of the Japanese Tripitaka and of the Dharanis in the Tripi­
taka of the Chinese, Tibetan, Mongolian and Manchurian
languages. The Rev. T ’ai-Hsu (1888 —1947), who was a
great living force in the revival of Buddhism and Buddhist
studies, gave a scientific turn to the religious training of a
Buddhist monk. He sent some of his disciples to Ceylon
and India to study Pali and Sanskrit. He himself founded
a Bodhi Society in Shanghai, became the Chairman of the
Buddhist Reformation Committee and began reforming
Chinese Buddhism and organizing the Chinese Sarigha.
The Rev. Fa Fang, one of his prominent disciples, stayed at
the Vidyalarikara monastery near Colombo. Ceylon, and at
Cheenabhavan in Santiniketan, India, and studied Pali.
He also wrote a book on Vijnanavada in Chinese. The Rev.
Pai Hui, Fa Fang’s disciple, studied Sanskrit at Santiniketan.
Upasaka Ou-yang Ching-wu (1871— 1943), a layman, was
an eminent Buddhist scholar who studied Buddhism under
the guidance of Yang Wen-hui. Among his works are a
commentary on the Lankavatara-sOtra and. prefaces to the
Mahaprajnaparamita, the Mahaparinirvana-sutra, the Yoga-
carabhumi-sastra and the Abhidharma-kosa-sastra. His ex­
planatory discourses to the disciples of the Cheen Institute
of Inner Learning which he had founded himself were also
published. The scientific spirit in which the Rev. T ’ai-Hsu
conducted his Buddhist studies has been maintained in
modern China by his disciples, Lu-chen, T ’ang Yong-Tung
and Chen Ming-hsu. The Buddhist movement is now being
led by young graduates who in one way or another are con­
nected with institutions started by the Rev. T ’ai-Hsu and
Upasaka Ou-Yang Ching-wu.
The Chinese Buddhist Association of Peking seems still
to be active. It recently held (May, 1953) a conference of
Buddhists in the Quang-chi temple, where Buddhists came
from different provinces, including Tibet, South-West China,
and Yunan, and from Thailand.
9. Japan.—As a Buddhist country, Japan has encouraged
Buddhist studies throughout the ages, but it was only in the
18th century that these attained wide popularity. Tominaga
Chuki’s (1715—45) study on Mahayana Buddhism and the
Venerable Jiun’s (1718— 1807) Sanskrit studies are among
 the important works of this period that show a critical
approach.
The pioneers of modern research were B. Nanjio (1848 —
1927) and K. Kasahara, both of whom studied Sanskrit
under Prof. Max MUller in England. B. Nanjio introduced
to Japan the new method of study which he had learnt in
England. Unfortunately, however, Kasahara died on his re­
turn to Japan. The examples of these two scholars were a
source of great inspiration to later Buddhist scholars.
An attempt has been made here to give a brief general
survey of the progress of Buddhist studies in Japan with spe­
cial reference to Indian Buddhism.
With the adaptation of the European educational system
after the Meiji Restoration (1868 A.D.), several universities,
colleges and research institutes came into being, some of
which, for example, the Otani, Ryukoku, Komazawa, Taisho,
Koyasan, and Rissho, were devoted mainly to the advance­
ment of Buddhist studies.
Nanjio introduced Sanskrit classes at Otani University and
this marked the beginning of research societies in Japan.
Today, the universities at Tokyo, Kyoto, Tohoku, Kyushu,
Nagoya, Hokkaido and Osaka also hold Sanskrit seminars.
A number of research institutes are attached to particular
Buddhist sects. There are also several institutes which spe­
cialize in Oriental studies in general, including Buddhism.
Among these the most important are Toyobunka-Kenkyujo
(The Oriental Cultural Research Institute), attached to the
University of Tokyo, Jinbunkagaku-Kenkyuje (The Research
Institute of Sciences and Humanities), attached to the Uni­
versity of Kyoto, Toyo-bunko (The Oriental Research In­
stitute) in Tokyo and the Okurayama Cultural Research In­
stitute in Yokohama.
Indogaku-Bukkyogakukai (The Japanese Association of
Indian and Buddhist Studies), which holds an Oriental con­
ference every year and issues a journal twice annually, was
founded in 1951.
The work of the Pali Text Society in London greatly
influenced the outlook, of Japanese scholars. Following its
example, the gigantic task of translating the Pali Canon into
Japanese was undertaken and completed in 65 volumes under
the supervision of J. Takakusu, a former professor of Tokyo
University, and M. Nagai, also a retired professor of Tokyo
University. Japanese scholars have shown remarkable zeal
and a special capacity for the comparative study of Pali texts
and Tibetan and Chinese translations of Buddhist canons,
which has gone a long way in correctly interpreting
early Buddhism and its development. C. Akanuma, a Pro­
fessor of Otani University, was one of the most outstanding
scholars of Pali Buddhism. His Dictionary of Pali Proper
Names (Nagoya, 1931) and Comparative Catalogue of the
Pali Canon and its Chinese Versions have been hailed as
works of great learning. The Samanta-pasadika was edited
by J. Takakusu and M. Nagai, while Ethics of Buddhism was
published by S. Tachibana of Komazawa University.
Anesaki’s The Four Buddhist Agamas in Chinese is also a
famous work.
The study of Pali Buddhism has now developed into that
of the Agama, the Abhidhamma and the Vinaya. Each of
these branches is under the supervision of a competent
scholar. Funahashi, of Otani University, is working on the
Agama, R. Higata, of Kyushu University, on the Jataka,
K. Mizunu, of Komazawa University, and G. Sasaki, of Otani
University, on the Abhidhamma and U. Nagai on the
Vinaya.
The study of Sanskrit was introduced in Japan with
research on Mahayana Buddhism. Nanjio published a Sans­
krit text of the Vajracchedika in 1881, and that of the Sukha-
vati-vyuha in collaboration with Prof. Max Muller in 1883.
Amongst his other publications are the Saddharma-pundarika-
sutra (Bibl. Bud., Vol. 10, 1909—1912), the Lankavatara-
sQtra (Kyoto, 1923) and the Suvarana-prabhasa (Kyoto,
1931).
A number of Sanskrit texts were edited by U.
Wogihara, a former professor of Taisho University.
 Among these, the most important are the Bodhisattva-
bhumi (Tokyo, 1930), the Abhidharma-kosa-vyakhya (Tokyo,
1932), the Abhisamayalankaraloka (Tokyo, 1932—35) and
the Saddharma-pundarika (Tokyo, 1934). Wogihara also
published the Mahavyutpatti, in a Sanskrit-Chinese edition.
In 1915. Other Sanskrit texts edited by Japanese scholars
include the Sumagadh5vadana by G. Tokiwai (1897), the
Bhadracari by K. Watanabe (1912), the Madhyantavibhaga-
tika by S. Yamaguchi (Otani. 1934). the Ganda-vyuha by
D. T. Suzuki and H. Izumi (1934—36), the Das'abhumis'vara
by R. Kondo (1936). and the Mahavyutpatti, Sanskrit-Tibetan-
Chinese edition, by R. Sakaki, a former professor at Kyoto
University (1916).
Their knowledge of the Chinese Canon and their faculty
of criticism in regard to the text has enabled Japanese scho­
lars to produce a number of philological and philosophical
works on Mahayana and Abhidharma Buddhism. In this
connection, mention may be made of the works of T. Kimura,
H. Ui, D. T. Suzuki and other well-known scholars. Kimura’s
introductory works on early Buddhism, Abhidharma and
Mahayana Buddhism are still read with interest. Studies in
Indian Philosophy (6 vols.), which work includes the study
of Buddhist philosophy, forms the most important work of
H. Ui. Recently this author published the Vijnapti-matrata-
siddhi, a comparative study of the commentary on the Trim-
sika by Sthiramati and the Vijnapti-matratavimsatika, a com­
parative study of Sanskrit texts and four Chinese translations.
D. T. Suzuki is the distinguished author of Studies in the
Lankavatdra-stttra (1930), of an English translation of the
Lanka vatara-sutra, and an index to it, besides other works
G. Honda, at one time a professor at Kyoto University, was
an authority on the Saddharmapundarika-sutra. S. Yama-
guchi’s philological studies and S. Miyamoto’s philosophical
studies on the Madhyamika school are important works on
the subject.
Studies in the Tibetan Tripitaka were introduced in Japan
through the efforts of several monks, namely, E. Kawaguchi,
 E. Teramoto, T. Tada and B. Aoki, who visited Tibet to
acquire a knowledge of Tibetan Buddhism. The important
works in this field include A Catalogue of tire Tibetan Tripi­
taka (2 vols.. Tohoku University, 1934). A Catalogue of
Kanjur (Otani University, 1930—32) and A Catalogue of
the Tohoku University Collection of Tibetan Works on
Buddhism (1954).
The comparative study of Sanskrit. Tibetan and Chinese
versions of various texts has made great progress in the last
twenty years. The texts which are based upon their
Tibetan versions are the Mahayanasangraha-sastra, edited
by G. Sasaki, a former professor of Otani University,
Sthiramati’s Trimsikavijnapti-bhasya, edited by E. Teramoto
(Otani University), the Arya-srimala-sGtra, by K. Tsukinowa
(Ryukoku University), and the Sandhinirmocana-sutra by
K. Nishio (Otani University).
The study of Tibetan Buddhism is being pursued by such
experts as S. Yamaguchi, G. Nagao (Kyoto). H. Hatano
(Tohoku). S. Yoshimura (Ryukoku) and several others.
Studies on the Chinese Tripitaka and Chinese Buddhism
are also receiving serious attention. The most important
work in this field is The Taisho Shinshu Daizokyo (85 vols..
1918—25). Among the catalogues of the Chinese Tripitaka,
the most famous is A Catalogue of the Chinese Translation of
the Buddhist Tripitaka by B. Nanjio, 1883. Table du Taisho-
Jssaikyo, attached to the Hobogirin (Tokyo, 1931), is also
useful. The bibliographical study on the Chinese version is
crystallized in Bussho Kaisetsu Daijiten (The Dictionary of
the Buddhist Bibliography) by G. Ono (12 vols., 1933—35).
Based upon Taisho Issaikkyo were published two kinds of
Japanese translations, Kokuyaku Issaikyo (150 vols., Tokyo,
1928—35) and Kokuyaku Daizokyo in 28 volumes.
Buddhist dictionaries of various kinds were compiled,
including Bukkuo Daijiten by T. Oda (1 vol., 1917), and
Bukkyo Daijiten by S. Mochizuki (6 vols., Tokyo, 1931—36).
A unique work in this field is Daizokyo Sakuin (an index of
the Canon) in 3 volumes by K. Kawakami, 1927—28.
 S. Murakami, a former professor of Tokyo University,
E. Ma-e-de also of Tokyo University, S. Mochizuki, at one
time professor of Taisho University. B. Shiio. a former profes­
sor of Taisho University, and B. Matsumoto, a former pro­
fessor of Kyoto University, are among those who published
studies on Buddhism based on the Chinese versions of the
texts.
The study of Chinese Buddhism proper has also been
popular in Japan. D. Tokiwa, K. Sakaino, and K. Tabuki
are distinguished scholars in this field. Several important
works were written on Zen Buddhism by H. Ui, D. T. Suzuki,
and K. Nukariya, a former professor of Komazawa Univer­
sity. Recently a study of Central Asian Buddhism was
undertaken by R. Hatani, a retired professor of Kyoto Uni­
versity, J. Ishihama of the same University and several
other scholars. A research expedition was sent to Central
Asia under K. Otani, and this has brought to light important
archaeological material on the subject.
Lastly, we may refer to some important works on Japa­
nese Buddhism itself.
Studies on Japanese Buddhism in recent times show
remarkable progress in their critical approach. Of the two
aspects of the study of Japanese Buddhism, one consists only
in historical research while the other relates to Buddhist
thought. A very well-known work of historical research is
Z. Tsuji’s A History of Japanese Buddhism, in 10 volumes.
In the field of Buddhist thought, S. Shimaji, a former profes­
sor of Tokyo University, was a pioneer, while S. Hanayama,
also of Tokyo University, has published important works on
the subject.
The philosophies of Shinran. Dogen and other founders
of Buddhist sects are also held in great esteem by the non-
Buddhist philosophers of Japan and other countries.
 Buddhism in the Modern World

A. C u l t u r a l a n d P o l it i c a l I m p l i c a t io n s

In order to determine the cultural and political impli­

cations of Buddhism in the modern world we must first
define Buddhism itself, and ascertain the general nature of
its relation to culture and to politics. A glimpse of the
cultural achievements of Buddhism during its twenty-five
centuries of history, and of its political status and influence
in the same period will be helpful in understanding the
cultural implications of Buddhism today, not only in the
East but also in the West, besides grasping its current poli­
tical implications for Asia and the world at large.

The Nature of Buddhism

Buddhism, or more accurately, the Dharma, may best be
defined simply as the means to enlightenment. The
Buddha himself compares it to a raft. Just as a raft, after
being fashioned out of grass, sticks, branches and leaves,
serves to cross over great stretches of water and is then
abandoned, so the Dharma, by means of which we ferry
over the waters of birth and death to the other shore, nir­
vana, is not something to be taken with us but something
to be left behind.1 In short, it is not an end in itself, but
only a means to an end. In modern parlance, its function
is purely instrumental and therefore its value only relative.
This of course does not mean that it can be dispensed with.
When • we have arrived safely on the other shore, the raft
1. Majjhima-nik&ya I, 134,
may indeed be abandoned; but so long as we remain on
this shore, or are still paddling across the stream, it is in­
dispensable.
The pragmatic nature of the Dharma is emphasized in
the words addressed by the Blessed One to his foster-mother
and aunt, Mahapajapati Gautami, who had asked him to
give her a precept, hearing which she might dwell “alone,
solitary, ardent and resolved”. The Buddha replies, “Of
whatsoever teachings, Gotamid, thou canst assure thyself
thus: ‘These doctrines conduce to dispassion, not to pas­
sions: to detachment, not to bondage: to decrease of
(worldly) gains, not to increase of them: to frugality, not to
covetousness: to content, and not discontent: to solitude,
not company: to energy, not sluggishness: to delight in good,
not delight in evil’: of such teachings thou mayest with cer­
tainty affirm, Gotamid, ‘This is the Dharma. This is the
Vinaya. This is the Master’s Message’.”’ It is for this
reason that the Mahayanists were not only able to say,
with Asoka, “Whatever the Blessed One has said is well
said”, but also “ Whatever is well said is the word of the
Buddha” .2
The means to enlightenment comprise three groups of
practices. Ananda, questioned about the Master’s teaching
some time after the mahaparinirvana, tells his interrogator,
a young brahmana, that the Blessed One taught £ila,
samadhi, panna, and gives an explanation of each of these
terms in turn.3 According to the Mahaparinibbapa-sutta,
these three groups had, in fact, formed the substance of the
farewell discourse delivered by the Buddha at the various
places through which he passed in the course of his last
journey.4 Sila, or ethics, traditionally consists of the five
precepts incumbent upon all Buddhists, both monks and

1. Vinaya, II , 10.
2. Adhyasayasamcu$ana-8titra, &k$&-Samuccaya of Santideva; translated
by Cecil Bendall and W. H . D. Rouse, London, 1922, p. 17.
3. Digha-nikaya, I, 10.
4. Digha-nikaya, II , 3.
 laymen, as well as the 227 or 250 binding upon Hinayana
and Mahayana monks respectively, and various special pre­
cepts observed by the Bodhisattvas. In samadhi, or medi­
tation, are included mindfulness , and self-possession (sati-
sampajanna), contentment (santutthita), the overcoming of
the five hindrances (paficanivarana), the attainment of the
four (or eight) stages of superconsciousness (jhana) by
means of one or more of the forty classical supports of con­
centration (kammatthana), and the development of various
psychic powers (iddhi). Panna (Skt. Prajfia), generally
rendered as wisdom, includes all the doctrines of Buddhism,
that is to say, teachings relating to the conditioned co­
production (pratitya-samutpada) of phenomena, the three
characteristics (trilaksana) of mundane existence, the four
noble truths (aryasatya), universal emptiness (sarvadharma-
nairatmya), the three kinds of reality (svabhava), mind only
(citta-matrata), and the three bodies of the Buddha (trikaya).
Through each of these three stages in turn must the dis­
ciple pass in order to attain nirvaoa. While some of the
practices enumerated under siia and samadhi are found in
other traditions, the doctrines which constitute the concep­
tual formulations of prajna are peculiar to Buddhism.

Buddhism and Culture

Culture, which is derived from a Latin word mean­
ing ‘tilling’, can be looked at from three principal points
of view. First of all, it is the act of developing the moral,
intellectual and aesthetic nature of man through education
and discipline. Secondly, it is that familiarity with and
taste in the fine arts, humanities and broad aspects of
science, that enlightened and refined state or temper of
mind, which such education and discipline tend to induce.
Thirdly, it is those activities and objects which are the effect
in the artist, and the cause in the rasika, or savourer of a
work of art, of the enlightenment and refinement referred to.
Thus, culture comprises the act of cultivation, or education
(literally a ‘bringing out’), the thing cultivated, in this case
a mental state, and the fruits of such cultivation; in short,
works of science and of art. Buddhism is obviously
connected with culture in all three senses. But what is the
nature of the connection between the two? Is it merely a
historical and accidental relation having nothing to do with
the essential nature of either Buddhisip or of culture, or
does it spring from some deep and hidden affinity? Bud­
dhism, as we have seen, is the means to enlightenment, and
as such threefold, consisting of £ila, samadhi and prajna.
In order to have an inner, as distinct from a merely outer,
connection with Buddhism, culture must be able to func­
tion as a means to enlightenment. In other words, it must
be possible for us to subsume it under the category of ethics,
or of meditation, or of wisdom. Can this be done?
According to the Theravada tradition, it can. Speaking
of bhavana, or mental culture, Dr. C. L. A. de Silva, a
distinguished exponent of this school, writes, “The volitions
arising in the processes of thought during the time of learn­
ing the Dhamma Vinaya (the doctrine) or any arts, sciences
and so on, too, are included under the heading of mental
culture or bhavana.”1 Though the connotation of
bhavana is on the whole more active than that of samadhi,
the two terms are in the present context more or less
synonymous. Culture may be subsumed under samadhi,
the second of the stages of the path to nirvana, because,
like the more direct and specialized methods pertaining to
the practice of meditation, the arts and sciences also contri­
bute to the purification, refinement and elevation of con­
sciousness. This fact has been recognized, in practice,
even if not in theory, by all schools of Buddhism. But
since the fine arts, by reason of their greater emotional
appeal, are able to heighten consciousness to a far greater
extent than the sciences, it is with painting, music and
poetry, rather than with mathematics and chemistry, that
Buddhism is most intimately related.
This connection is twofold. A rt may be either sacred
1. The Four Essential Doctrines of Buddhism, Colombo (1948), p. 155.
 or profane. In the first case, art is deliberately used, in
conjunction with other methods, as a means of rising to a
higher plane of consciousness. The Buddha image springs
to the mind as the best known example of this type of art.
By fixing his njind on such an image, instead of on something
that is not a work of art, the devotee is enabled to purify
and refine his consciousness not only by the act of concentra­
tion itself but also by the aesthetic appeal of the image.
Buddhist art, in which painting, sculpture, music and poetry,
are all integrated into the spiritual tradition, and utilized,
not merely as media of religious propaganda, but as objects
of concentration and meditation, is one of the most effective
means of heightening the consciousness ever devised by man.
Profane art, or art which has no formal connection with the
Dharma, though capable of producing an effect of the same
kind is rarely able to produce it to the same degree. Not
being reinforced and stabilized by the methodical practice of
concentration, and having, as sometimes happens, no fiim
foundation in the moral life, whatever heightening of
consciousness it is able to produce is of momentary dura­
tion only. For this reason art, though it may greatly assist
and powerfully reinforce the practice of meditation, the
second stage of the Path, can never be a substitute for it.
Much less can art be a substitute for religion. The Dharma
as a means to enlightenment comprises, as we have already
seen, not only sila and samadhi, ethics and meditation, but
prajna or wisdom. Even if it could be shown that art alorie
is capable of inducing the dhyanas, or states of supercon­
sciousness, that it was capable of producing prajna would
remain undemonstrated. Between samadhi and prajfta there
is this difference, that the former, however high it may soar,
is still mundane, whereas the latter is transcendental. Hence
the Dharma, since it is not only ethics and meditation but
also wisdom, does not merely include culture but trans­
cends it.
However, Buddhism is traditionally associated not only
with the sacred but also with the profane variety of art. By
this we mean that besides making direct use of art for medita­
tive purposes it also recognizes the purifying and refining
power of “a thing of beauty”, and therefore not only tolerates
but also encourages the independent cultivation of the arts.
Thus we have not only the images of Buddhas, and
Bodhisattvas but statues of yakjas, yaksinls and apsaras, who.
though belonging to the mythology of Buddhism, have
nothing to do with its doctrine. Asvaghosa composes an
epic poem on the life of the Buddha; but Wang Wei sings of
mountains, mists, and streams. Broadly speaking, the
Mahayana, the liberal and progressive wing of Buddhism,
was concerned more with the integration into the doctrine,
as a supplementary means to enlightenment, of as many arts
and sciences as possible. Thus, its art is on the whole sacred
art. The Hlnayana, which was somewhat conservative,
pursued the cultivation of the arts and sciences parallel to
the study and practice of the doctrine. Hence, its works of
art are on the whole profane. To these generalizations there
are, of course, many exceptions. The Mahayana has pro­
duced a great deal of profane art, while the Hinayana has
produced a great deal of sacred art.

Buddhism and Politics

The relation between Buddhism and politics is not quite
so simple as that between Buddhism and culture. For, being
concerned with the individual rather than with the group,
culture is related to Buddhism as personal religion, but not
to Buddhism as institutional religion. Moreover, Buddhism
comprises, from the institutional point of view, two groups,
one large and one small, the first being the community of
lay believers, both male and female, the second the noble
Order of monks. These two groups need not have the same
kind of relation to politics. In order to understand clearly
the relation between Buddhism, both personal and institution­
al, on the one hand, and poljtics in the various senses of the
term, on the other, it would be necessary to investigate the
relations between (a) the Buddhist doctrine and political
 theories, (b) Buddhism and the State, (c) the laity and the
government, (d) the Safigha and the government, (e) the
individual monk and the government, <f) the layman and
practical politics, and (g) the monk and practical politics.
(a) As far as our knowledge goes, the Buddha confined
his attention strictly to questions of religious discipline, and
refrained from making any pronouncement upon the relative
merits of rival political theories and systems. During his
lifetime, as is well known to historians, two types of govern­
ment prevailed in north-eastern India, the monarchical and
the republican; but the Buddha did not praise or condemn
either. His statement that so long as the Vajjians, a
confederacy of republican tribes, would “assemble repeated­
ly and in large numbers, just so long their prosperity might
be looked for and not their decay”1, cannot be regarded as
favouring republicanism, any more than if he had said that
King Ajatasatru could, if he was clever enough, break the
confederacy, his statement could have been interpreted as
approving autocracy. He merely stated the facts of the
case without passing any ethical judgement. On one point,
however, the Buddha, and after him the entire Buddhist
tradition, was quite explicit: the government must uphold
the moral and spiritual law. Being the means to enlighten­
ment, Buddhism naturally demands that the State should
recognize the fact that the true goal of life is not to eat,
drink and reproduce the species, but to attain nirvana, and
that, therefore, it has the duty of providing for its citizens
a political and social organization within which both monks
and the laity can live in accordance with the Dharma. Be­
tween Buddhism, on the one hand, and any political theory
which recognizes, either implicitly or explicitly, the supremacy
of the moral and spiritual law and makes provision for its
individual and collective application, on the other, there can
be no disagreement. From the Buddha’s social egalitarian­
ism, as well as from his deliberate decentralization of authori­
ty in the Sangha, it may be inferred that a form of govern
1. D igha-nikaya I I , 73.
ment, in theory democratic, in effect aristocratic (for an
intelligent electorate would naturally elect the best man),
would be most in accordance with his Teaching. Buddhism
has no objection to either a socialistic or to a capitalist state
provided it makes provision not only for the material but
also for the moral and spiritual well-being of its subjects.
(b) The nature of the relation between Buddhism and the
State will vary in accordance with two factors, one being, of
course, the nature of the State itself, the other the relative
strength of the Buddhist population. In a predominantly
non-Buddhist State, Buddhism would expect to enjoy the same
rights as other religious minorities. That is to say, it would
demand complete freedom to practise and propagate its
tenets. Whether persecuted or tolerated, however, Buddhist
citizens would always remain loyal to the State to which they
belonged. In a predominantly Buddhist State, Buddhism
would naturally expect official recognition as the State reli­
gion. Under democracy, the State is the people, and the
government is only the agency through which the will of
the people is carried out. If in their individual capacity
the citizens support Buddhism it is only logical that they
should do so in their collective capacity too. Also,
Buddhism being divided not into sects but schools, its
recognition as the State religion is attended by no difficulty.
In Ceylon, Burma, Siam, Cambodia and Laos only the
Theravada exists. In Mahayana lands, suqh as China and
Japan, the laity generally respect and support all schools,
and the State would do the same. Buddhist schools are
tolerant, in fact, not only of each other, but also of non-
Buddhist traditions.
(c) Not much need be said about the relation between
the individual Buddhist citizen and the government,
because Buddhism has no means of enforcing among its
adherents uniformity of action in the affairs of secular
life. It is true that Buddhism does not only inculcate
certain principles but also indicates the main lines of their
application; the details of the application are left
to be worked out by the individual Buddhist, each for
himself. Buddhism exhorts, it does not command. It tells
us, for example, that to take life is morally wrong; but it
leaves us free to determine for ourselves whether the
acceptance of this teaching obliges us to be a vegetarian
or a conscientious objector. A Buddhist, however, should
take an active interest in whatever concerns the material,
moral and spiritual well-being of his fellow-citizens. In
short, it should be his endeavour to live his social and
political life in accordance with the Dharma.
(d) The relation of the Government to the Sangha is
the same as that of the individual lay Buddhist to the
individual bhikju: it is the Sahgha-dayaka, the patron and
supporter of the Sangha. Just as it is the duty of the
individual devotee to build temples and monasteries, publish
religious books and periodicals, so it is the duty of the
government of a Buddhist State to finance similar under­
takings which, either because of the greatness of the cost
involved or the complexity of the organization required to
carry them out, are beyond the capacity of private citizens.
In the same way, the relation of the Sangha to the govern­
ment corresponds to the relation between the bhik§u and
the layman. Just as the monk, in his capacity of “guide,
philosopher and friend”, indicates to the lay devotee the
path of righteousness, so it is the right and duty of the
Sangha, in the person of its seniormost members, to advise
the government not only on the propagation of the Dharma
but also on its application to the social and political life of
the nation. The Sangha must also be able to draw atten­
tion to and freely criticize deviations from the Dharma on
the part of the government, the people, and the political
leaders. Objection should not be levelled against such a
connection between the Sangha and the government on the
ground that “monks should not meddle in politics”. Unless
the Dharma is applied in the national life, it will gradually
lose its hold over domestic life. Being concerned with the
preservation of the Dharma, the Sangha is inevitably con­
 cerned with its application also, whether to politics or any
other sphere of life. And in any case, there would be no
question of the Sangha’s becoming involved in the rough
and tumble of practical politics. Needless to say, it is
unthinkable that the advice of the Sangha should ever tend
to the promotion of anything but peace and prosperity, both
at home and abroad. For whether it spoke to a king or
to an emperor, to a President or to a Party Chairman, the
Sangha would have but one message: “Never in this world
does hatred cease by hatred: it ceases only by love. This
is the Law Eternal.”1
(e) The individual monk should have no relation with
the government as government except through the Sangha,
or with the consent of the Sangha. Unless there happens
to be a separate portfolio for religious affairs, or a special
provision for ecclesiastical councillors, as there is in Siam,
he should flot accept any office in the government, and
even in such cases as these he should not accept any re­
muneration. A monk cannot be required to undertake
any form of national service; neither is he liable to conscrip­
tion. In a Buddhist State these rights would be recognized
automatically. Monks suspected of committing offences
against the civil and criminal law should, in a Buddhist
State, first of all be tried by an ecclesiastical tribunal. If
found guilty they should be disrobed and handed over to
the civil court for further trial and punishment.
(f) Since the Buddhist layman is connected with the
government, he is obviously obliged to take part in practical
politics, and all that can usefully be said in this connection
is that here, too, he should act in accordance with the
Dharma.
(g) The monk, however, is under no such obligation.
On the contrary, by virtue of the rules which, at the time
of his ordination, he undertakes faithfully to observe, he is
obliged to refrain from participation in practical politics.
“One path leads to worldly gains, quite another path leads
1. D hammapada, 5.
to nibbaga. Let not the bhikkhu, the follower of the
Buddha, yearn for honour, but let him, on the contrary,
develop dispassion.”1 In order to conform to this advice,
the monk should not join, or support, or even vote for, any
political organization. Neither should he participate in
meetings or any other public functions of a political or
quasi-political nature. For those members of the Safigha
who feel, as some in Burma and Ceylon have felt in recent
times, that their duties as citizens have a stronger claim
on them than their obligations as monk, the only honour­
able course is to leave the Saftgha. Enlightenment and
elections cannot be won together.

The Cultural and Political Heritage of Buddhism

Since the heritage of Buddhism constitutes, in one way
or another, the theme of practically everything that is dis­
cussed in these pages, all that need be done here is to
indicate such broad trends and basic principles as relate to
(a) culture, civilization and education, and (b) war and
peace.
Since culture generally, and in particular the fine arts,
can be subsumed under the heading of samadhi, or medita­
tion, they may be included within the means to enlighten­
ment. Culture is part of Buddhism. It is not an ornament
on its apparel but one of the limbs of its body. Where
Buddhism is, there is culture. Whither in the world
Buddhism goes, thither goes culture too. This is, indeed,
one of the most obvious lessons of the spread of Buddhism
throughout Asia, and it is repeated here only because its
significance for the modern world in general, and for
modern India in particular, is not always sufficiently
appreciated. Ceylon, Burma, Siam, Cambodia, Laos,
Japan, Tibet, Mongolia, Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan and Ladakh
received with Buddhism not only their religion but practi­
cally the whole of their civilization and culture. How
much the introduction of Buddhism meant to the people of
1. D ham m apada, 75.
 Japan, for example, has been clearly stated by Dr. D. T.
Suzuki. Speaking of the eagerness with which they took
up the study of the Dharma in the Nara period, he remarks,
“Buddhism was to them a new philosophy, a new culture,
and an inexhaustible mine of artistic impulses.”1 Again,
speaking of the reasons which led the government of that
period to build temples and monasteries, maintain monks
and nuns, and erect a gigantic bronze image of Buddha
Vairocana, he reminds one of the fact that “In those days
the Buddhist temples were schools, hospitals, dispensaries,
orphanages, refuges for old age; and the monks were
schoolmasters, nurses, doctors, engineers, keepers of free
lodges, cultivators of land, explorers of the wilderness, etc.
When the community was still in a primitive stage of evolu­
tion the Buddhists were leaders in every sense, and the
government naturally encouraged their activities.”2 The
monks were also poets, painters, sculptors, carvers and
metallurgists. Suzuki’s statement, together with our own
rider, is true not only of Japan but of all the other countries
that have been mentioned. Is it not more than a coinci­
dence that Milarepa, the greatest poet of Tibet, should also
have been at the same time her most famous yogin, and
that Siri Rahula, who occupies in Simhalese literature a cor­
responding position, should have been the Sangharaja of
Ceylon? China alone, of all the nations of Asia, had deve­
loped a civilization and culture of her own prior to the
advent of Buddhism; but even China is indebted to Bud­
dhism, if not for her culture, at least for its finest flowering.
Buddhism was, in fact, a spring wind blowing from one end
of the garden of Asia to the other and causing to bloom
not only the lotus of India, but the rose of Persia, the
temple flower of Ceylon, the zebina of Tibet, the chrysan­
themum of China and the cherry of Japan. Asian culture
is. as a whole, Buddhist culture. Therefore, as Suzuki says
1. “Japanese Buddhism ", Essays in Zen Buddhism (T hird Scries), R ider,
London, 1953, p. 340.
2. Ibid., p. 349.
at the conclusion of the article already quoted, “If the East
is one, and there is something that differentiates it from the
West, the differentiation must be sought in the thought that
is embodied in Buddhism. For it is in Buddhist thought and
in no other that India, China, and Japan, representing the
East, could be united as one. Each nationality has its own
characteristic modes of adapting the thought to its environ­
mental needs, but when the East as a unity is made to
confront the West, Buddhism supplies the bond.”1 The full
significance of this declaration will emerge later. Here it
would suffice to emphasize the fact that if the history of
Buddhism in Asia has any lesson for the world today, it is
that, in their long trek from the burning mark of the Gange-
tic valley to the gem-encrusted rocks of Ceylon in the South,
the wind-swept uplands of Central Asia in the North, and
the sun-confronting islands of Japan in the East, Buddhism,
culture, civilization and education were inseparable friends
and companions.
Hardly less striking is the almost invariable association
of Buddhism with peace. The exceptions were not only
extremely rare but of merely local importance. King
Aniruddha of Burma made war upon the neighbouring
kingdom of Thaton in order to seize a copy of the Tipitaka
which the king of Thaton refused to have copied. This
was, of course, not the most Buddhistic way of obtaining
the precious documents. The monks of mediaeval Japan,
who lived in huge fortress monasteries, raised and fought in
their own armies, and for seven hundred years, until the
destruction of their strongholds, Hieizan and Negoro, by the
Nobunaga and Hideyoshi in the sixteenth century, were a
menace to the secular arm.2 Even the most industrious
research has been unable to dig out from the two thousand
five hundred years of Buddhist history, during which time
1. (tJapanese Buddhism/* Essays in Zen Buddhism (T hird Series),
Rider, London, 1953, p. 348.
2, Oonze, Buddhism : Its Essence and Development, Bruno Cassirer
(Oxford), 1951, p. 65; Eliot, Hinduism and Buddhum, Routledge, 1954, pp. 55,
404*
 it spread over more than a quarter of the land surface of
the globe, as many as ten incidents of this kind. Not a
single page of Buddhist history has ever been lurid with
the light of inquisitorial fires, or darkened with the smoke
of heretic or heathen cities ablaze, or red with the blood of
the guiltless victims of religious hatred. Like the Bodhi*
sattva Manjusn, Buddhism wields only one sword, the
Sword of Wisdom, and recognizes only one enemy—Ignor­
ance. This is the testimony of history, and is not to be
gainsaid.
But even admitting the close association of Buddhism
with peace in Asia it may be questioned whether Buddhism
was really the cause and peace the effect. Perhaps their
association was fortuitous. Buddhism has a bloodless and
Christianity a bloody record, it might be argued, not so
much because of any difference between their teachings but
because one was propagated among the warlike tribes of
Western Europe and the other among the peaceable nations
of Asia. The contention is unfounded. Tibet, before the
introduction of Buddhism, was the greatest military power
in Asia. The early history of Burma, Siam, and Cambodia
shows that the people of those countries were originally of
an extremely warlike, even aggressive, disposition. The
Mongol hordes at one time overran not only the whole of
Central Asia, but also India, China, Persia and Afghanistan,
and thundered even at the gates of Europe. China exhibited
at various periods of her history considerable military acti­
vity. The martial spirit of Japan is far from being subdued
after nearly fifteen centuries of Buddhism. With the pos­
sible exceptions of India and China, the nations of Asia
were originally no less pugnacious and predatory than those
of Europe. Their subsequent peacefulness was due very
largely to the influence of the pacific teachings of Bud­
dhism. But one can hardly expect to be able to pacify
turbulent and warlike nations by preaching to them a God
of Battles. It may therefore be concluded that the asso­
ciation between Buddhism and peace is not fortuitous but
inevitable. Buddhism has been in the past, is at present,
and will continue to be in the future, a factor contributing
to the establishment of universal peace.

Buddhism and Culture Today

After four or five hundred years of comparative stagna­
tion, the present century is witnessing a resurgence of Bud­
dhism in many parts of Asia. In Japan this resurgence
began as long ago as 1868, when the disestablishment of
Buddhism at the commencement of the Meiji Era and the
mild form of persecution which for some years overtook the
religion and its adherents acted as a stimulus. A few years
later Buddhism again raised its head in Ceylon, where the
activities of Meggetuwatte Gunananda, H. Sumangala and
Col. H. S. Olcott precipitated a landslide in the direction
of the national religion. Buddhist revival in India began
as an organized movement in 1891, when Anagarika
Dharmapala founded the Maha Bodhi Society. In China,
the Buddhist awakening began with the work of His Emi­
nence T ’ai-Hsu, while the resurgence of the Dharma in
Burma is associated with the name of another great scholar-
saint, Ledi Sayadaw. Now, culture being subsumed under
samadhi as part of the means to enlightenment, as has been
seen already, the most important of the cultural implications
of Buddhism today is, naturally, the fact that its resurgence
and revival in Asia is sowing the seeds of an efflorescence
of culture. Shoots are springing up in many places, and
even a few scattered blossoms can be seen. Brief mention
must therefore be made of the stimulus which Buddhism
has given to culture in certain Buddhist countries of Asia
and in India, the original home of the Buddha’s teachings.
Since from the East Buddhism has now spread to the West,
some note must be taken of its cultural implications for
that part of the world also
Of all the Buddhist countries of Asia, it is in Ceylon
and Burma, perhaps, that Buddhism is now most trium­
phantly resurgent. The achievements of Ceylon, consider-
ing that it is a tiny island with a little more than five million
Buddhist inhabitants, have indeed been remarkable. It
gave birth to two great international Buddhist organizations,
the Maha Bodhi Society and the World Fellowship of Bud­
dhists. With the possible exception of Japan, Ceylon, out
of her scanty resources, has sent abroad far more dharma-
dutas, or messengers of the Dharma, than any other Bud­
dhist land. Her contributions to culture have been no less
significant and far-reaching. Scholars like Coomaraswamy,
Malalasekera and Buddhadatta. painters like Manjusri Thera
and George Keyt, and writers and poets like Siri Nissanka,
Dhanapala and Tambimuttu are known and respected far
beyond the confines of their native land. Within the coun­
try itself, the indigenous arts and crafts, customs and tradi­
tions are being revived. Link by link the chains of various
alien and anti-Buddhist cultures, in which the Simhalese
people had for centuries been fettered, are being snapped.
With the attainment of self-government within the Common­
wealth of Nations, Simhalese has begun to rival English in
importance, and though modern Simhalese literature has not
yet produced any figure of more than local significance
there is every possibility of its doing so before long. Similar
trends can be observed in Burma; her political independence
has led not only to a sudden and striking resurgence of
Buddhism but also to a revival of Burmese Buddhist culture.
No international figure has, however, yet emerged, nor any
religious or cultural achievements of more than national
interest and value. If in Siam, Cambodia and Laos the
resurgence of Buddhism and the revival of Buddhist culture
are less noticeable, it is largely because, being less subject
to foreign influence, neither Buddhism nor its associated
arts, crafts, customs and institutions ever declined to the
extent that they did elsewhere. A certain benumbing
lethargy did, however, creep over these lands, and even
though they may not have needed a revival, in the sense of
bringing back to life something that was dead, they did need
a more vigorous circulation of the blood. That such a
quickening of the pulse did eventually take place in the
present century is demonstrated by the publication, in forty-
five volumes, of the entire Pali Canon in Siamese script.
This magnificent edition, known as the Royal Siamese
Tipi taka, is still the only complete and uniform edition of
the Theravada Canon to have been printed in Asia. In
Japan, which has been subject to the influence of modern
industrial civilization to a far greater extent than any other
Asian country, the resurgence of Buddhism has led not so
much to a revival of Buddhist culture, which, here too, was
never dead, as to an attempt to preserve and consolidate it
amidst the essentially alien and hostile environment of
modern life. Though that attempt seems to be succeeding
on the whole, it is so great a drain on the spiritual vitality
of Japanese Buddhism that there can be little energy to spare
for fresh cultural achievements. Yet it is a Japanese, Dr.
D. T. Suzuki, who through his writings and lectures exer­
cises on European and American thought and culture a
deeper and wider influence than any other Buddhist. In
China, Tibet, Nepal and other parts of the Buddhist world,
politics have temporarily assumed paramount importance,
so that little can be said on the present cultural implications
of Buddhism in those countries. However, the recent
action of the People’s Republic of China in presenting to
Burma two grains of the Buddha’s relic bones, one set of
the Chinese Tripitaka, two suits of robes used by the Han
and Tibetan monks, one alms bowl and one cane staff, is,
perhaps not without significance.1
The revival of Buddhism which has been going on in
India for the last sixty years, but particularly during the
past decade, is one of the strangest and most striking events
in the history of religions. Nowhere else in the world does
one find a parallel case of a religion being revived centuries
after its disappearance, not by the command of a despot,
not as the result of foreign conquest, but simply because it
is the will of the people. Yet this is what is happening
1. See Sang&yana Bulletin, Rangoon, April 1955, p. 2.
in India today. Less than a century ^go Buddhism was
unheard of in the land of its birth : if remembered at all, it
was as an objectionable but fortunately extinct heterodoxy
which had for a brief space troubled the placid waters of
Brahmanism. Today it is a household word. Over the
chair of the President of the Republic of India, in the House
of the People, the message dharmacakra pravarttanaya, ‘to
turn the Wheel of the Dharma’ flashes forth in electric light
to the assembled representatives. At the very centre of the
national flag as it floats over ten thousand public buildings,
the same historic symbol reminds the nation not only of the
sublime doctrine of the Buddha but also of the dharma-
vijaya or Conquest by Righteousness o f Asoka. Similarly,
the lion-capital of Asoka, representing the fearless proclama­
tion in the Dharma to the four quarters of space, has been
adopted as the official seal of the Republic.
It is hardly necessary to insist that the revival of Bud­
dhism is inseparably linked with a renaissance of culture.
Such a renaissance has, of course, been going on in India
for some time, and the revival of Buddhism, despite its
importance, is by no means the only contributing factor.
Indeed, from another point of view, the revival of Buddhism
is itself part of the great movement for the regeneration of
the religious, cultural, economic and political life of the
nation that has been agitating the whole sub-continent for
more than a hundred years. Nevertheless, it would be a
mistake to think that the revival of Buddhism in India is,
for this reason, linked with the renaissance of culture only
to the extent that it contributes to the renaissance of Indian,
in the sense of non-Buddhist, culture. It is also linked with
the renaissance of a culture specifically and distinctively
Buddhist. This Buddhist culture, as far as its manifestations
in India are concerned, is an integral part of Indian culture.
India has recognized the importance of studies in Pali,
Sanskrit, Tibetan and Chinese for a full understanding of
Buddhism and the subject has been discussed elsewhere.1
1. See Chapter X IV.
These naturally have had their effect on writers in the
modern Indian languages, who either translated works
on Buddhist from the original or were inspired to
write independent books that reflect Buddhist thought.
Rabindranath Tagore’s magnificent invocations to the
Buddha, his drama, Natir Puja (The Dancing Girl’s Worship),
and his narrative poem. Abhisar. are fine examples
of the free handling of Buddhist themes. Other writers
whose work has been deeply influenced by Buddhism in­
clude Yashpal, one of the greatest masters of the modern
Hindi short story and novel, Gurubaksh Singh, whose Asia
da Chdnana, a prose translation of Sir Edwin Arnold’s The
Light of Asia, is regarded as a classic in modern Punjabi
literature, and Kumaran Assan, one of the three greatest
Malayalam poets of the twentieth century. But like hun­
dreds of less well-known poets, dramatists and novelists,
they are all Hindus who have been deeply moved by the
sublimity of the Buddhist ideal and the beauty of its cultural
manifestations. Only two or three Indian Buddhists have
succeeded in carving niches for themselves in the temple
of literary fame. Dharmananda Kosambi’s numerous
writings on Buddhist subjects—described elsewhere1—have
secured him a name in Marathi literature, while the writings
of Rahul Sankrityayan and Anand Kausalyayan are out­
standing contributors to Hindi belles-lettres.
Hardly less stimulating has been the effect of Buddhist
revival on the visual arts. Inspired by the frescoes of
Ajanta, then newly discovered, and guided by the great art
critic, E. B. Havell, the Bengal school of painting developed
a style which, for the first time in centuries, handled Indian
themes in a traditionally Indian manner. Both Abanindra-
nath Tagore, and Nandalal Bose, the two great masters of
this school, exhibited a marked fondness for subjects drawn
not only from the life of the Buddha but also from Buddhist
history and legend. Contemporary Indian art is, in many
cases, only superficially Indian. The best known painters,
J . See pages 395-396.
one or two of whom enjoy international fame, derive their
technique, style and inspiration almost exclusively from the
latest European and American models. Those who remain
faithful to the indigenous tradition and whose work is ins­
pired by an awareness of spiritual values, regardless of their
very high standard of achievement, seem unable to obtain
anything like the recognition and appreciation they merit.
Among these neglected artists are many whose work reflects
deep Buddhist influence. There is. however, no professedly
Buddhist painter of outstanding eminence. Once again the
influence of Buddhism, deeply and subtly felt, penetrates
far beyond the formal boundaries of Buddhism.
Though the Dharma is resurgent in Ceylon and Burma,
and undergoing revival in India, the latest Buddhist
renaissance has a long way to go before it reaches its peak.
One swallow does not make a summer, and the cultural
manifestations of Buddhist resurgence and revival, though
at times strikingly beautiful, in comparison with the
efflorescence of past ages do not yet amount to much more
than two leaves and a bud. Even more so is this the case
in Europe and America. Though Buddhism seems to have
struck firm roots in Western soil, the roots have not had
time to go very deep, and the cultural flowering which has
so far taken place, perhaps prematurely, though beautiful, is
inconspicuous. As in India, it relates chiefly to literature
and the visual arts. Here too we must distinguish between
non-Buddhist writers and artists whose work exhibits traces
of Buddhist influence and the creations of those who. being
professed Buddhists, derive their main inspiration from
Buddhism.
From the historical point of view, perhaps the most
striking feature of the Buddhist movement in the West is its
absolute spontaneity. For reasons largely academic, about
a century ago oriental religion and culture in- general, and
Buddhism in particular, started attracting the attention of
Western scholars. Sanskrit, Pali, Chinese, and Tibetan be­
came subjects of study at the universities. This led first to
the publication and then to the translation of a number of
Buddhist texts. Though Csoma de Koros (1784— 1849) was
undoubtedly the inaugurator of Buddhist studies in the West,
it is to the great French scholar, Eugene Burnouf, that
the credit for having placed them upon a scientific basis
belongs. Thereafter a number of distinguished savants
devoted themselves to the study of Buddhism. Prominent
among them were Max MUller, who besides editing the two
well-known series, The Sacred Books of the East (in which
a number of Buddhist works were included) and The Sacred
Books of the Buddhists, himself edited and translated some
important Buddhist scriptures, and T. W. Rhys Davids,
who in addition to publishing texts, translations and what
are still standard works on Buddhism, founded the Pali
Text Society, which since its inception has published con­
siderably more than one hundred volumes of texts and
translations, as well as the famous dictionary. Hard on
the heels of the scholars came the popularizers. Sir Edwin
Arnold's The Light of Asia (1879), easily the most widely
known English book on Buddhism, and the stories and
other writings of Paul Carus are the literary landmarks of
this period. At the turn of the century Buddhism had
begun to attract the attention not merely of philologists and
historians but of men and women looking for a religion
and a way of life more satisfying than Christianity.
Schopenhauer, as early as the second decade of the
nineteenth century, had declared himself a Buddhist, and
his Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellurtg had for more than
half a century been popularizing a version of Buddhism all
over Europe. But though of far-reaching influence, his was
an isolated case, and it was only towards the end of the
century that Buddhism began to strike root in the West.
Buddhist groups sprang up in a number of European capitals
and in many parts of the United States. The Theosophical
Society, especially during the lifetime of its founders, also
helped in the dissemination of Buddhism. At present the
Dharma may be said to be firmly established in England,
Germany, France, and the United States. Though the
number of adherents is still small, their sphere of influence
is steadily expanding. Since the end of World War II, not
a year has gone by without the publication of important
books on Buddhism in at least one European language, and
there is an increasing tendency for such books to be the
work of practising Buddhists. References to Buddhism (not
always intelligent) are becoming more and more frequent in
modern literature and in the daily press. Rainer Maria
Rilke, the greatest German poet since Heine, has written a
beautiful sonnet on the Buddha1, and John Masefield, the
present Poet Laureate of England, a creditable narrative
poem. T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land (1922) contains a strik­
ing reference to the Buddha’s Fire Sermon2 while the
imagery of a short passage in Edith Sitwell’s “The Coat of
Fire” is derived from The Tibetan Book of the Dead?
W. B. Yeats’
Hermits upon Mount Meru or Everest
Caverned in night under the drifted snow4
are probably Buddhist hermits. Many of the poems
rendered from the Chinese by Arthur Waley are Buddhist
in theme or sentiment, and two or three of these have been
included in anthologies of modern verse as English poems
in their own right. The voluminous writings of Aldous
Huxley, Bertrand Russell and Carl Gustav Jung, all of whom
enjoy world-wide reputation, carry important and, on the
whole, appreciative references to Buddhism. Jung’s interest
in Buddhism is, in fact, well known, while Russell has gone
so far as to declare that if he were compelled to choose
between the religions of the world he would choose Buddhism.
None of the poets and writers so far mentioned are
Buddhists, however, and a Buddhist has yet to make a name

1. Neue Qedichte, I, 1907.

2. Line 308.
3. Selected Poems (Penguin Books, 1952), p. 12, lines 23-25.
4. Collected Poems, Macmillan, 1950, p. 333.
for himself in modern European and American literature.
In the field of the visual arts the converse is true. While
Buddhism seems to have had no influence at all upon modern
Western painting and sculpture, the Buddhist movement in
the West has already produced Buddhist artists of outstanding
brilliance. Nicholas Roerich, who achieved international
fame with his decor for Diaghiliefs ballet version of
Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du Printemps, subsequently produced,
mainly under the inspiration of Tibetan Buddhism, of which
he had direct knowledge, series after series of canvases
marked by powerful composition, brilliant colouring and
profound symbolism, and all not only bathed in “the light
that never was on sea or land” but pervaded by a mighty
rushing wind of inspiration which would have been demo­
niacal had it not been so divine. Earl H. Brewster, though
in his later years he lost touch with Buddhism, produced
his best work under its influence. Only his own retiring
disposition prevented his sculptures and paintings of the
Buddha from being more widely known. Like Roerich.
Lama A. Govinda, who is not only an artist but a writer,
scholar, thinker and mystic of no ordinary calibre, derives
his main inspiration from Tibetan Buddhism. He is, in
fact, a member of a Tibetan religious order, and his art is
perhaps even more deeply and purely Buddhist than that
of either Roerich or Brewster. Not without significance is
the fact that all three artists eventually made their home
in India. Roerich and Brewster spent their last years here,
while Govinda still works in the shadow of the Himalayas.
All three, again, have shown that in its westward no less
than in its eastward movement Buddhist art can retain the
spiritual elevation, the sheer sublimity, which has ever been
its most striking and characteristic feature. The influence of
Buddhism on Western music has been negligible. Mention
should, however, be made of Berg’s “Music for Wesak.”

Buddhism and Politics Today

Though mere numbers have little cultural significance,
they do count politically, so that the political, unlike the
cultural implications of Buddhism in the modern world,
are necessarily confined to Asia in which continent alone
it counts its adherents by the million.
From what has been said above it should already be
clear that in the present, no less than in the past, Buddhism
implies peace. But this peace is not a' condition of unstable
political equilibrium but rather a state of mind purified from
all feelings of antagonism and thoroughly permeated by that
impersonal and universal love which the Buddhists call
maitri. Buddhism works from within outwards. Its
hierarchy enjoys no international diplomatic status, and
chooses to act not by means of behind-the-scenes political
wire-pulling but by the open practice and propagation of the
pacific teachings of the Buddha. On the political plane,
Buddhism does not take sides. Love, in the sense of maitri,
is the most powerful force in the world; but it is a neutral
force. Whether one’s love be directed towards concrete
persons and things, or whether it be directed towards abstract
conceptions and ideals, if it causes one to feel hatred towards
some other object, of a different kind, it is of a limited ex­
tent, and therefore not true love but only a species of attach­
ment. Similarly, if peace, which is a form of love, is not
universal it is not peace at all. The conclusion of a private
peace between two or more nations, to the exclusion of the
remainder, is in reality impossible. Should such a ‘peace’
in any way threaten the security of any other state even its
observance would be on no higher a moral plane than the
honesty that is popularly supposed to exist among thieves.
India having accepted Asoka’s great ideal of dharmavifaya
or Conquest by Righteousness, it was inevitable that this
very Buddhist maitri, or love and goodwill towards all,
should form the ultimate spiritual basis of her policy of
dynamic neutrality in world affairs. It is the raison d ’etre
of the fact that, while working unremittingly for world peace,
the Government of India consistently refuses to align itself
with any power bloc. Such an attitude has naturally drawn
her closer to the Buddhist countries of South-East Asia,
whose respective policies are naturally inspired by one and
the same ideal. But by its very nature, such a relationship
does not and cannot imply hostility or even indifference to­
wards any -other country or group of countries. In fact,
it is not one political group among other groups, with its
own exclusive preferences and limited loyalties, but rather a
slowly expanding centre radiating to the world the imper­
sonal. universal and neutral power of maitri. It is in this
light that one must view the Government of India’s
attempts to renew her ancient ties with the countries of Asia.
It is because Buddhism alone can provide the necessary basis
for these attempts that its political implications for Asia, and
through Asia for the whole world, are so enormous and so
important.

The Future

Prophesying is a proverbially hazardous game; but it may

be confidently asserted that if we had the power of dipping
into the future “as far as human eye can see”, we should
behold there Buddhism softly pacing through the centuries
hand in hand with culture and peace. So far as the
immediate future is concerned, there is little doubt that the
tempo of Buddhist resurgence and revival throughout Asia,
as well as that of its propagation all over the non-Buddhist
world, will be accelerated with the passing of every remain­
ing decade of the present century. The cultural manifesta­
tions of Buddhism will bloom more and more profusely
while the grey-green olive of peace, lovingly tended by the
ever-stronger-growing hands of the Dharma, will put forth
their black, shining fruits for the healing of the nations in
ever greater abundance. If the cultural and political im­
plications of Buddhism in the modern world succeed in
working themselves out along the present lines of their
development, our two leaves and a bud will soon grow into
a whole forest of flowers.
 A third of the modern world is Buddhist! This is no
small achievement for Buddhism. The reading of history
creates an impression in the mind that if this great religion
had not had to struggle against unfavourable political condi­
tions, the conquest of the world by Buddhism would have
been complete. However, the Buddhist world today is by
no means small. Tibet, China with Manchuria and Mongo­
lia, Korea, Japan. Indo-China, Siam (Thailand), Burma and
Ceylon are Buddhist. Although Malaya and Indonesia can­
not be claimed as Buddhist lands, the Buddhist population
in these countries is not negligible. Excluding the Muslim
lands in the Middle East and Russia, the whole of Asia is
thus practically Buddhist.
Although Buddhism originated in India, today it is not
much in evidence in that sub-continent. This does not, how­
ever, mean that there is no Buddhism in India at all. In the
eastern parts of the country, in East Bengal and in parts of
Assam, Buddhism still exists and is practised. It also exists,
although this is not generally known, in parts of Rajputana.
in the hill district of Nainital and in the Darjeeling district
of West Bengal. The number of Buddhists in Orissa is
considerable, and Sikkim and Bhutan in the Himalayan
region are completely Buddhist. Further, half the popula­
tion of Nepal is Buddhist. Although Nepal has a separate
political existence, culturally k belongs to the orbit of Indian
thought.
The Buddhist population of Rajputana, Nainital, Ajmer
and Orissa is, after a long period, gradually becoming
aware of its religious identity and Buddhism in these places
is coming into its own.
About the year 1885, Sir Edwin Arnold, author of the
famous The Light of Asia, wrote a number, of articles in
The Telegraph, a London periodical of which he was the
editor, and drew attention to the neglected state of the temple
at Bodh Gaya and its surroundings. These articles caught
the eye of the Venerable Dharmapala, who was deeply
moved by them. Dharmapala came of an aristocratic
family of Ceylon, but he abandoned all the good things of
the world that were his, and became ‘anagarika’ (homeless).
He dedicated his life to the restoration of the Maha Bodhi
temple as well as to the revival of the Noble Dhamma in
the land of its birth.
In pursuance of his resolve, Dharmapala, who was then
in the prime of life, set forth for India and paid his llrst visit
to Bodh Gaya in January 1891. His heart broke at what he
saw of the temple and the condition of the images in it. He
returned to Ceylon in May 1891 and founded the Maha
Bodhi Society in Colombo. The maintenance of a staff of
bhikkhus at Bodh Gaya representing the Buddhist countries
of Asia, and the publication of Buddhist literature in English
and Indian languages were two of the objects of this newly-
founded society.
The Maha Bodhi Society sent its first mission to Bodh
Gaya on June 10th, 1891. The mission consisted of four
monks who, on their arrival, found shelter in the Burmese
Rest House—so called, because it was built by the Burmese
King, Mindon Min. Bodh Gaya was then within the
province of Bengal whose people greeted the appearance of
the bhikkhus with enthusiasm. A leading daily of Bengal
in those days wrote on the occasion: “Why should not this
unlooked for return of Buddhism in the form of a Buddhist
colony at Bodh Gaya bring back with it the hope that the
Hindus will recover their place among the great nations of
the world?”1
The holding at Bodh Gaya of an International Buddhist
Conference was the second achievement of the Society. Al­
though the conference was organized on a small scale, China,
Japan, Ceylon and the Chittagong Hill Tracts were also
represented. The object of this Conference, which was
held in October 1891. was to draw the attention of the Bud­
dhist world to the state of affairs at Bodh Gaya, as it was
1. Indian Mirror, November 3, 1891.
 realized that the movement for the restoration of the temple
started by the Maha Bodhi Society could not succeed
without the support and co-operation of Buddhists through­
out the world.
The next activity of the Society was to launch, in May
1892, its organ. The Maha Bodhi and the United Buddhist
World, which was to be used as an instrument for the
propagation of the Dharma not only in India but in all the
countries of the world where English was understood. The
journal, which was published from Calcutta, was edited by
the Venerable Dharmapala. It was actively supported by
and enjoyed the sympathy of a considerable section of the
Indian intelligentsia.
All this time the Venerable Dharmapala saw nothing but
encouragement and he continued his work towards the fulfil­
ment of his mission with un'abated energy. But he came
up against two unexpected hurdles. The Mahant of Bodh
Gaya, who was in possession of the temple, saw danger and
wanted the Buddhist monks to leave. The incidents that
followed are too well known to need recounting. The
powers that be, too, came to the aid of the Mahant in spite
of the voices of disapproval from men like Sir Edwin Arnold
and Col. H. S. Olcott. However, nothing daunted the
Maha Bodhi Society and they continued their work with
redoubled energy.
The Venerable Dharmapala undertook a second voyage
to America at the invitation of Dr. Paul Carus, the author
of the famous Gospel of Buddha. On this occasion he
stayed in America for a year in the course of which he
delivered many lectures on Buddhism and the work of the
Maha Bodhi Society, and founded the American Maha
Bodhi Society. Convinced by his speeches, several Ameri­
cans were converted to Buddhism.
The humanitarian aspect of the work of the M aha Bodhi
Society was evidenced in 1897 when severe famine
broke out in Bengal. The Society immediately opened a
relief fund and sent an appeal to all the Buddhist countries
of Asia for help. The response was prompt and a substan­
tial sum was collected for the purpose of feeding and cloth­
ing more than a thousand men, women and children for
about six months.
The year 1900 must be regarded as an eventful one for
the Maha Bodhi Society, for in that year three branches of
the Society were opened at Madras, Kusinagara and Anuradha­
pura (in Ceylon). In 1902 the Venerable Dharmapala visited
America once more and was able to secure substantial
financial aid for the Maha Bodhi Society, chiefly from Mrs.
Mary E. Foster of Honolulu. He also succceded in gather­
ing round him a number of distinguished people who were
desirous of working for the cause of Buddhism.
The Maha Bodhi Society became a registered body in
1915 with Sir Ashutosh Mookerjee as its lirst president.
Within the next five years, the Dharmarajika Caitya Vihara
of the Society was built in Calcutta. In recognition of the
distinguished position it had won. the Society was presented
in 1920 with a casket containing the relics of the bones of
the Buddha, which were to be enshrined in the .Vihara.
These relics were discovered at Bhattiprolu in the Krishna
district of Madras by archaeological explorers in 1891 and
kept, till such time as they were presented to the Maha
Bodhi Society, in the Madras Museum. The Dharmarajika
Caitya Vihara was formally opened on November 20, 1920.
by the Governor of Bengal. Lord Ronaldshay. On the
morning of that day, the President of the Society. Sir
Ashutosh Mookerjee. received at Government House from
Lord Ronaldshay (now Marquis of Zetland) the sacred
relics which were brought to the new shrine in a picturesque
procession.
A new chapter opened with the dawn of freedom in India.
The interminable litigation with the Mahant in which the
Maha Bodhi Society was involved had produced no result.
Now, the Government of Bihar came forward with legisla­
tion for the management of the temple and had the Buddha
Gaya Temple Act. 1.949, passed. Under this Act. a ( om-
 mittee called the Buddha Gaya Temple Management Com­
mittee. consisting of four Buddhists and four Hindus, has
been constituted. The Committee is entrusted with the
management and control of the temple. Thus, after sixty
years of hard struggle, the Maha Bodhi Society has partly
succeeded in one of its main objectives—the restoration of
the temple to the Buddhists.
Bodh Gaya again began to attract the attention of the
whole world, and groups of pilgrims came to visit it all the
year round. As if by charm, Bodh Gaya, erstwhile an in­
significant village, was transformed overnight. It now
hums with life and bids fair to be the centre of the Buddhist
world once more.
Meanwhile, however, the Mulagandhakuti Vihara had
been built at Sarnath. When the Venerable Dharmapala
came to India. Sarnath, which is famous in the history of
Buddhism, had been reduced to a tiny village surrounded by
jungle which was the grazing ground of wild pigs. The
Venerable Dharmapala took upon himself the task of restor­
ing it, and towards this end conceived the idea of erecting
a vihara. A suitable site was selected for the purpose and
the building was finally completed in 1931. With the
subsequent establishment of the Maha Bodhi Vidyalaya,
the VihSra Library, the Maha Bodhi Free Dispensary, the
Maha Bodhi Primary School and the Teachers’ Training
College, Sarnath is once again pulsating with life.
The impact of the expanding activities of the Maha
Bodhi Society was soon felt throughout India, and the
formation of the Buddha Society of Bombay in 1922 was a
result of this influence. This society owned a library and
a hall in which fortnightly discourses on Buddhism were
held. In 1953 this vihara was handed over to the Maha
Bodhi Society for proper management. With the financial
help of Seth Birla, the late Prof. Dharmananda Kosambi had
a small vihara built at Parel. This was called Bahujana
Vihara, and was intended to satisfy the spiritual needs of
the workers and labourers who live in the surrounding areas.
This vihSra has also passed into the hands of the Maha
Bodhi Society for management.
The Society at present has branches at Gaya, Sarnath.
New Delhi, Lucknow, Bombay, Madras, Nautanwa and
Ajmer. There is a Buddha Society at Nagpur which func­
tion? independently. Many parts of the country are anxious
to have branches of the Maha Bodhi Society, but the lack of
funds at the disposal of the Society stands in the way of
the fulfilment of this desire.
With the home-coming in 1949 of the relics of Sariputta
and Moggallana, the two chief disciples of the Buddha, the
interest of the people of India in Buddhism and their
innate love of the Buddha was revealed in a surprising
manner. The vast sub-continent welcomed the relics as if
the dearest sons of the country had come back after long
years of absence. Finally, these relics were taken to Sanchi.
the place of their discovery, and re-enshrined in the newly
built vihara at a fitting ceremony which was attended by
thousands of men and women from all over the world,
headed by the Prime Ministers of India and Burma. The
scene was unforgettable and the occasion historic.
The celebration of the Maha Bodhi Society’s Golden
Jubilee at Sanchi synchronized with the enshrinement of the
relics, as did the International Buddhist Conference which
was held there.
It is noteworthy that while ten years ago the festival of
Buddha Paurnima was celebrated only in one or two Bud­
dhist temples maintained by the Maha Bodhi Society, now
it is observed all over the country, including places which
are strongholds of orthodoxy. This is indicative of the
successful work done by the Maha Bodhi Society over a
period of sixty years. The seed sown by the Venerable
Dharmapala, and nurtured by the self-sacrificing workers of
the Maha Bodhi Society, has sprouted and all the signs are
that it will have a glorious growth.
Now that India has come into her own, numerous and
frequent cultural missions come to visit this country from
Buddhist countries in East Asia, thereby re-establishing the
close link that once existed between India and those coun­
tries. The political effect of this is far-reaching.
The Maha Bodhi Society has taken up in right earnest
the task of publishing translations of the Buddhist scrip­
tures into Indian languages which has brought the teachings
of the Buddha within the reach of everybody. This work
is making progress and the result is highly encouraging.
The publication of translations of the Tripitaka has
created in the public mind a genuine interest in Buddhism.
The regular weekly lectures on Buddhism delivered at the
Maha Bodhi Hall are always well attended.
Sir Ashutosh /Mookerjee. as far back as the year 1908,
introduced the study of Pali at Calcutta University from the
Matriculation stage right up to the M.A. degree examina­
tion. This has led to the revival of a language which for
ages had lain forgotten in the land of its birth. The post
graduate department of Pali at Calcutta University has done
and is doing pioneer research work, thereby bringing to
light the treasures of Pali literature. The example of Cal­
cutta University has been followed by other universities
of the country, particularly those at Patna, Banaras, Luck­
now. Nagpur, Bombay. Poona and Baroda. The latest to
come into the field is the Nalanda Pali Institute of Rajgir
(Rajagrha).
Although the Maha Bodhi Society's work is mainly con­
fined to India, its influence is felt over a much wider area,
and extends to the eastern and south-eastern parts of Asia,
and to Europe, America, Australia and Africa, where
thousands of people are becoming interested in this great
religion. Buddhist viharas now exist in England, Germany.
Australia and the United States of America.
The message of Buddhism and the principle on which
it rests have assumed new significance in the world of today,
and the peace of which U.N.O. speaks is but an indication
that the whole world is gradually veering round to the
beliefs embodied in the religion of the Buddha.
 In Retrospect

The story of Buddhism in India and abroad has been

outlined in the foregoing chapters in order to show the link
that has bound India and the other countries of the East for
numberless centuries.
The importance of Buddhism as a religion lies primarily
in its concept of kindness, humanity and equality. Buddhism
was no adventitious phenomenon. It arose out of the back­
ground of Vedic sacrificed and the philosophical speculations
current before and up to the Buddha’s own times. The
story of his life and teachings according to the older Pali
texts places more reliance on his humanity than on his
divinity.
His teachings can be described briefly as:
(1) the abstention from evil;
(2) the accumulation of whatever is good and noble;
and
(3) the purification of the mind.
H is belief in Karma is of special sociological significance
inasmuch as it attributed greater importance to personal
action (karma) than to lineage (jati).
The account given of the Buddhist Councils of Rajagrha,
Vaisali and Pataliputra follows the orthodox tradition. A
French scholar. Andre Bareau. has. however, made out a
case for two Councils at Pa(aliputra. the first of which brought
about a schism in the community of the Buddhist monks.
A t this first Council, the MahSsanghikas separated from the
Sthaviravfidins and at the second the SarvSstivadins broke
away from the main body of the Sthaviravadins. They now
 took the name of the Vibhajyavadins and were patronized by
the great Emperor Afoka.
In the reign of Asoka the Great. Buddhism, although
divided into as many as eighteen different sects and schools,
became, under royal patronage, not only an all India reli­
gion, but a world religion.
A chapter has also been devoted to the expansion of
Buddhism to the northern countries, such as Afghanistan,
Chinese Turkestan (Central Asia), China, Tibet, Mongolia.
Nepal, Korea and Japan, as well as to the southern countries
of Ceylon, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Viet-Nam (Campa),
Malaya and Indonesia.
The principal sects and schools of Buddhism in India
and abroad have also been described and the gradual evolu­
tion of the simple teachings of the Theravada school into
the complexities of the Madhyamika and Yogacara schools
in India and their further development in China and Japan
have been clearly traced.
A general idea of the Tripitaka literature in Pali, Sanskrit,
Tibetan and Chinese has been given and important books in
Pali and Buddhist Sanskrit have been surveyed in detail.
Another interesting topic bears upon the Buddhist system
of education. It has been shown that it transcended the
narrow limits of the family school of Brahmanical times and
expanded into the larger monastic school which threw its
doors open to all—Buddhists and non-Buddhists. Indians and
foreigners.
An attempt has also been made to tell the reader of some
of the great Buddhists who followed Asoka in India and
abroad.
The great Chinese travellers, Fa-hien, Yuan Chwang and
I-tsing, have given us a picture of Buddhism in the India of
their day. A separate chapter has been devoted to them in
token of India’s grateful recognition.
It is universally admitted that India owes to Buddhism
the beginnings of her plastic arts. Buddhism became a source
of inspiration for architecture, sculpture and painting not only
in India but wherever Buddhism went.
A remarkable change came over Buddhism in' the course
of time. From its earlier form of ethical religion, Buddhism
changed into the Mahayana doctrine which deified the Buddha
and devotion to the person of the Buddha became the domi­
nant feature of the religion. A follower of the Buddha no
longer cared for the deliverance of his own self, but preferred,
out of compassion (karuna) for his comrades, to defer his
own deliverance; he was even prepared to be born again and
again if he could thereby help his fellowmen to achieve their
deliverance. Thus the change from the selfish ‘turning away
from the world’ (nivrtti) to the beneficent activity of help
and service to others (pra vrtti) was largely responsible for
gaining public support. In philosophy also Buddhism turned
from the pluralistic to the monistic conception of the universe.
This brought Buddhism nearer to the doctrine of Advaitism
advocated by the Vedantins.
The doctrine of Maya and the two types of truths
samvrtti-satya (conventional truth) and paramartha-satya
(absolute truth) were also accepted by the Vedantins.
Sacrifices involving the slaughter of animals came to be
condemned and were replaced by offerings of corn and grain.
The Mahabharata, the great Hindu epic, takes for grant­
ed the importance of personal conduct and refers to the
Noble Eightfold Path.1 The Buddhist gods came to be
respected and the Buddha himself came to be recognized
as an Avatara, a reincarnation of Vi?nu.2
The cultural and political implications of Buddhism in
the modern world have been discussed at length. It has
been shown that with the spread of the Buddha’s religion to
the Asian countries, Buddhist culture also was introduced
to them. These countries profited from these new ideas not
only in religion but also in culture which, in its widest sense,
is “that coupled whole which includes knowledge, belief,
arts, morals, law, custom and any other capabilities and
1. I l l , 2,7,73.
2. Bh&gavata, I, 3,24,
habits acquired by man as member of society”.
Buddhism has been a great force for peace in the world
The Buddha’s policy of peace, self-sacrifice, kindness and
charity finds an echo in the following lines from the
M ahabharata:
Akrodhena jayet krodham asadhum sadhuna jayet
jayet kadaryam danena jayet satyena canrtam}
(One should conquer anger by cool-headedness,
evil by good, miserliness by charity and falsehood
by truth.)
This spirit moulded the lives of numerous saints in mediaeval
India and the great minds of modern India, too, have been
guided by the Buddha’s teachings. The influence that the
life of the Master exercised on Mahatma Gandhi is self-
evident. He turned the principle of satyagraha into action
in his private and public life and some of the present Indian
leaders are the direct heirs of their Master, the Father of the
Indian Nation. Jawaharlal Nehru, the Prime Minister of
India, has declared times without number his firm faith
in the peaceful method of settling disputes at home and
abroad. This accounts for the fact that India has refrained
from joining any power bloc. The declared foreign policy
of the Government of India is based on the five rules of
conduct, the Panca-sIIa, itself a Buddhist term, which
allows for the possibility of peaceful co-existence between
peoples of different ideologies.
1. Udyoga-parva (B .O .R .I. Edition), 30,58.
 GLOSSARY

Som e com m on Pali names and terms and their

San \ krit eyuivalent s

Pam S anskrit

A b h id h a m m a A bhidharm a
A lara K alam a A dara K alam a
A m a ta . A m rta
A p a d an a A vad an a
A tthadassT A rthadarsI
Bhikkhu Bhiksu
BhikkhunT BhiksunT
C etiya . C aitya
D h am m a D harm a
D h a m m a ca k k a p a v a tta n a D h a rm aca k rapravar tana
D h a tu gab b h a D h atugarbh a
GayasTsa G a>asirsa
JFvaka K om arab h acca Jivaka K um arabhrtya
K a ccayan a K atya yana
K assap a K aryapa
K u sin ara K u sii.agara
M a h ak assap a M ah ak asyapa
M akkhali G osala . M askarin G o sa la
M ah in d a M ahendra
M a h ap arin ib b an a . M ahaparinirvana
M o g g a lla n a M aud galyayana
M o ggalip u tta M au d galip u tra
M ena M aitrf
N ib b a n a N irvana
N ig a n th a N atap u tta N irgranth a Jnatrputra
N an d a V accha N and a V acya
Pakarana Prakarana
P a k u d h a K acca y a n a K ak ud a Katyayan<*
 Pali S a n s k r it

Patim okkha-sutta Pratim oksa-sutra

Parinibbana . Parinirvana
Pataliputta Pa^aliputra
Piyadassf Priyadarsf
Rajagaha Rajagrha
Saddharama . Saddharma
Sanghamitta . Sanghamitra
Siriputta Sariputra
Subhadda Subhadra
/ ^

Savatthi Sravasti
Sutta . Sutra
Thera . Sthavira
Tipitaka Tripitaka
Tissa M oggaliputta Tisya M audgaliputra
Thupa . Stupa
Upekkha U pek§a
Vesakha Vai sakha
V esalf . V a isa li
Vibhajjavada Vibhajyavada
Visakha Visakha
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

CH A PTER IV

1. Mahavamsa (P .T .S.)
2. Mahavamsa (Tr. by W. G eiger, L ondon, 1912)
3. DTpavamsa (Tr. by H. O ldenberg, Edinburgh, 1879)
4. Sasanavamsa (M ab el Bode, L ondon, 1897)
5. On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 2 vols. (T. W atters,
L on don , 1904-5)
6. Cullavagga (S .B .E ., Tr. by Horner)
7. Buddhistic Studies (B. C. Law, C alcutta, 1931)
8. Life o f Buddha (W . W. RockhiJI, L ondon, 1884).
9. Fa-hiens Record o f Buddhistic Kingdoms (J. Legge, Oxford,
1886)
10. DTghanikaya (P .T .S., L ondon, 1890-1911)
11. Samanta-pasadika ( P .T .S ., Text, Buddhaghosa’s C om m entary
on the V inaya Pi{aka, J. T akakusu and N agai, Vols. I-V,
L on don , 1924-1938)
12. Pali Literature in Ceylon (G . P. M alalasekera, L ondon, 1928)
13. Pali Literature in Burma (M . H. B ode, L ondon, 1909)
14. Manual of Indian Buddhism (H . Kern, Strassburg, 1896)
15. Sangdyana Souvenir (Buddhasasana C ouncil, R angoon)
16. SangTtivamsa (Bhadante Vanaratana Som dej Phravanar}
17. History o f Buddhist Thought (E. J. T h om as, L ondon, 1933)

CHAPTER V

1. Mahavamsa (Tr. by W. G eiger, L ondon, 1912)

2. Theravada Buddhism in Burma (N ihar Ranjan Ray, Calcutta
U niversity, 1946)
3. Hindu Colonies in the Far East (R . C. M ajum dar, C alcutta,
1944)
4. Suvarnadvlpa (R . C. M ajumdar, C alcutta, 1927)
5. Champa (R . C. Majumdar, Punjab, 1927)
6. Kambujadesa (R . C. Majumdat* M adras U niversity, i944)
7. Inscriptions o f Kambuja (R . C. M ajum dar, A siatic Society,
C alcutta, 1953)
8. Indian Cultural Influence in Cambodia (B. R. Chatterji, C al­
cutta U niversity, 1926)
9. Indian Colony o f Siam (Ph^mndra N ath Bose, Punjab, 1927)
10. Hinduism and Buddhism, Vol. Ill (Sir Charles E liot, L ondon,
1954)
11. History o f Early Buddhist Schools, Vol. I ll (R . Kimura*
Oriental)
12. History o f India, Part J : A ncient India (K . A. N ilakanta
Sastri, M adras, 1950)

CH AP TER VIII

1. Ancient Indian Education, 2nd Edition (R . K. M ookerji,

London, 1947)
2. Indian Logic : Mediaeval School (S. C. Vidya Bhushan, C a l­
cutta, 1907)
3. China— A Short Cultural History (C. P. Fitzgerald, L ondon,
1942)
4. Tabakat-i-Nasiri (Tr. by H. G. Raverty, L ondon, 1881)
5. Indian Pandits in the Land o f Snow (Sarat Chandra D as,
C alcutta, 1893)
6. Some Aspects of Earliest Social History oj India (S. C. Sarkar,
L o n d o n ,1928)

CH A PTER IX

1. The History and Culture o f the Indian People, Vol. II (Bharatiya

V id y a b h a v a n ,2nd Edition, 1953)
2. Political History o f Ancient India (H . R aychaudhuri, 6th
Edition, C alcutta, 1953)
3. On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India . Vol. 1 (T. W atters, L ondon,
1904-5)
4. History and Culture o f the Indian People, Vol. I ll (Bharatiya
V idyabhavan, Bom bay, 1954)
5. Early History o f Buddhism in Ceylon (E. W. A dikaram , C eylon,
1946)
6. History o f Indian Literature, Vol. II (M . W internitz, C alcutta
U niversity, 1933)
 CHAPTER X

1. Fa-hiens Record o f Buddhistic Kingdoms (J. Legge, Oxford,

1886)
2. The Travels o f Fa-hien (H . A. Giles, Cambridge, 1923)
3. Si- Yu-Ki : Buddhist Records o f the Western World (Popular
Edition, two volum es in one, Samuel Beal, London, 1906)
4. Life o f Hiuen Tsiang by the Shaman Kwui Li (Samuel Beal,
London, 1914)
5. On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 2 vols. (T. Watters,
London, 1904-05)
6. A Record o f the Buddhist Religion as practised in India and the
Malay Archipelago (A. D . 671-95) by 1-tsing (Tr. by J. Taka­
kusu, Oxford, 1896)
7. Memoire compose a Tepoque de la grande dynastie Vang sur
les Religieux Eminents qui alttrent chercher la lot dans les pays
d'Occident, par 1-tsing (Edouard Chavannes, Paris, 1894)
8. In the Footsteps o f the Buddha (Rene Grousset, London,
1932)

CHAPTER XI

1. Annual Report, Archaeological Survey o f India , 1906-07 and

1912-13 (Calcutta, 1910 and 1916)
2. History o f Indian and Indonesian Art (A. K. Coomaraswamy,
London, 1927)
3. The Beginning o f Buddhist Art and other Essays on Indian
and Central Asian Archaeology translated by L. A. Thomas
and F. W. Thom as (A. Foucher, Paris, 1917)
4. V A rt Greco-Bouddhique du Gandhara, 2 vols. (A. Foucher,
Paris, 1905 and 18)
5. Buddhist Art in India (Tr. by Burgess, A. Griinwedel, London,
1921)
6. Antiquities o f Indian Tibet, Archaeological Survey o f India,
N ew Imperial Series, Vols. X X X VIII and L (A. H. Francke,
Calcutta, 1914 and 1926)
7. Nouvelles recherches archeologiques a Begram, M i moires de
la delegation archeologique franqaise en Afghanistan, tome
X I, Parts I and II (J. Hackin and J. Carl, P. Ham elin,
J. Auboyer, V. Elisseeff, O. Kurz and Ph. Stern, Paris, 1954)
8. Borohundur, 2 vols. (N , J. Krom, the Hague, 1927)
 9. The Art and Architecture o f India, Penguin Series (B, Rowland,
London, 1953)
10. Sculpture in Siam (A. Salmony, London, 1924)
11. History o f Fine Art in India and Ceylon, 2nd Edition revised
by K. de B. Codrington (V. A. Smith, Oxford, 1930)
12. Sand-buried Ruins o f Khotan (Sir Aurel Stein, Oxford, 1907)
13. Serindia, 4 vols. (Sir Aurel Stein, Oxford, 1921)
14. ‘La Sculpture de Mathura’, Ars Asiatica , Vol. XV (J. Ph.
Vogel, Paris, 1930)
15. Buddhist Art in India , Ceylon and Java (J. Ph. Vogel, Oxford,
1936)
16. Towards Angkor (H . G. Q. Wales, London, 1937)
17. The Art o f Indian Asia , Bollingen Series X X X IX , 2 vols.
(H. Zimmer, U .S.A ., 1955)

CHAPTER XII

1. ‘New Light on Buddhism in Mediaeval India’ : Melanges

chinois et bouddhiques, Vol. I (Arthur Waley, 1931-32)

CHAPTER XIII

1. Buddhism o f Tibet or Lamaism (L. A. Waddell, London,

1895)
2. Kunstform und Yoga im indischen Kultbild (H. Zimmer, 1926)
3. Yuganaddha, the Tantric View o f Life (H. V. Guenther,
Chaukhamba Sanskrit Series, Banaras, 1952)
4. Die Entstehung des Vajrayana, Z .D .M .G . (H. V. Glasenapp,
Vol. 90, Leipzig, 1936)
5. Two Vajrayana Works (G aekw ad’s Oriental Series, No.
XLIV, ed. by B. Bhattacharya, Baroda, 1929)
6. Tibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrines (W. V. Evans-Wentz,
London, 1935)

CHAPTER XV
1. The Four Essential Doctrines o f Buddhism (Colom bo, 1948)
2. Essays in Zen Buddhism (Third Series, Rider, London, 1953)
3. Buddhism : Its Essence and Development (Bruno Cassirer,
Oxford, 1951)
4. Hinduism and Buddhism (Sir Charles Eliot, Routledge, 1954)
5. A History o f Indian Philosophy, Vol. I (S. N . Das Gupta, Cam­
bridge University Press, 1932)
 INDEX*

A bhayagiri , 218, 261 AmrapSlT, 4, 28, 270

Abhidhamma-kosa, 49, 105, 107, 187, Arpsuvarman, King, 74, 83
223, 224 Ananda, 3, 27, 28, 35, 37, 38, 39, 40<
Abhidhamma-pitaka, 39,139,140,142, 97, 174, 185, 300
210, 211, 217 Anangavajra, 371
Abhidhammattha-sangaha, 103, 210 Anathapindika, 26, 149, 152, 173, 316
Abhidharmamrta, 49 Anatmavada, 209
Abhidharma-vibhasa, 48 Anatta (Anatman), 367
Abhidharma-vibhasa-sastras, 200 Anekanta, 14, 16
Abhiniskramana-sutra, 144, 145 Ahga, Anga-Magadha, 155
Abhisamayalankara, 230 Angkor Vat, 92, 305
Adhikarana-samatha, 165, 168, 170 Anguttara-nikaya, 140, 152, 156, 215
Adibuddha, 349, 368 Aniruddha, King, 459
Advayavajra, 370, 371 Antigonos (Antakini), 59
Agamas, 141 Antigonos Gonatos, 196
Agastya, 300 Antiochos 11, Antiochus (Antiyoka) 11,
Agganna-suttanta, 156 59, 196
Agnidcsa (Kara-shahr), 66 Anuradhapura, 210, 214, 261, 282'
Ajanta, 64, 277, 285, 288, 294, 296, 300, 301
297, 304, 332 Anuruddhacarya, 103
Ajatasatru, 14, 17, 18, 27, 36, 37> Aparajitadhvaja Buddha, 146
44, 45, 97, 279, 296, 297, 319 Aparimitayusa-sutra, 128
Ajativada, 351 Apastamba, 341, 346, 347
Alambana-parlk$a, 225 Arapyal^as, 345
Alayavijnana, 123 Aryadeva, 120, 221, 222, 272, 425
AmaravatT, 111, 113, 116, 118, 146, Aryasgra, 141
149, 272, 277, 282, 283, 284, 287> Arya Vairocana, 66
290, 291, 292, 293, 296, 300, 302, Asanga, 79, 105, 122, 142, 222, 223,
336, 337, 338 231, 268, 270, 271, 381
Amatamahanibbana, 149 Asoka, 21, 56-60, 71, 73, 83, 85,
Ambattha-suttanta, 153 87, 110, 182, 199, 201, 204, 260*
Amita Buddha (Amitayur Buddha), 266, 277,281, 287, 289, 309, 310,
127 312, 315, 318, 319, 321, 322, 323,
Amitabha Buddha, 69, 71, 128, 132, 324, 325, 327, 329, 330, 335.- 336,
133, 134, 251 383
Amitayurdhyana-sutra, 133 Assalayana-sutta, 3
Amoghavajra, 425 Assalayana-suttanta, 196

♦As will be observed, this index is < ifined to the better known names and
terms associated with Buddhism, and ii not exhaustive.
 Astasahasrika-prajfiaparamit§, 141 Bhiksu-vinaya, 110
Asvaghosa, 141, 144, 199, 200, 211, Bihar, 285, 286, 287, 310, 320
219, 220, 221, 353,406, 408 Bindusara, 56
Asvajit, 25, 26, 374 Bimbisara, King of Magadha, 25., 27,
Atanatiya-sutta, 376 149
Atanatiya-suttanta, 156 Biruni. A l, 201
Atisa, 78, 95 : see Dlpahkara Srijnana Bkah hgyur, 142
Atthakatha, 218 Bodh Gaya, 23, 57, 64, 83, 211. 212,
Atthasalirii, 212, 217, 218 229, 230, 236, 271, 275, 283, 287,
Avadana-kalpalata, 195 309, 310, 323, 472, 473, 475
Avadhutipada, 229, 231 Bodhibhadra, Bhiksu, 228, 229
A valokita-sutras, 148 Bodhicatyavatara, 231
Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, 162,203 Bodhidharma, 244-246
Avatamsaka-sutra, 8 Bodhinath, 298
Ayuthia (Ayodhya), 52 Bodhiprabha (Byang Chub Od), 233
Bodhiruci, 242, 249, 250
B a c t r i a , 265, 266, 267, 276 Bodhisattva, 23, 24, 106, 118, 202,
Bahubuddha-sutra, 149 235: 299, 350
Bakhtyar Khilji, 7 : see also B u k h ty a r Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, 232
Bdksei Chamkrong, 301 Borobudur, 95, 282, 283, 298, 299,
Balaputra, 285, 304 300, 302, 305, 306, 309
Balkh, 266, 267 Brahmajala (suttanta), 153, 155
Bamiyan, 266, 267, 294, 295, 296, 297 Brahmana Drona, 279
Bana, 202, 224, 269, 291 Brahmana-vagga, 152
Banaras, 151, 155, 161, 230, 260, Brhadaranyaka Upanisad, 12, 346,
270, 281, 312, 313 '352
Basava, 356 Bsam-yas, 76
Basileus Soteros, 195 Bsod-nams-rgya-mtso, 31
Baudhayana, 341, 346 Bstan-hgyur, 142, 195
Bdc-gsal-mi-rtog, 379 Buddha, 21, 23, 24,85, 199
Bde-mchhog, 366 Buddhabijankura, 150
Bedavrtti, 187 Buddhacarita, 141, 144, 145, 219, 220,
Bedsa, 331, 332 353
Begram 267, 291 Buddhadatta, 139, 206, 207, 210, 211
Bhagavaia, 3, 202, 344 Buddhadeva. 104, 149, 216
Bhagavata Purana, 2 Buddha, Gautama, 185, 308, 309
Bhagavadgita, 218, 269, 342, 344, 354 Buddhaghosa, 38, 44, 139, 197, 206,
Bhaisajya Buddhas, 299 207, 210, 211, 212, 213, 214, 215.
Bhaliika, 24, 151, 278 216, 217, 218, 339
Bharhut, 277, 281, 284, 298, 302, Buddhaghosuppatti, 210, 211
303, 310, 337 Buddha Kakusandha, 279
Bhartrhari, 187 Buddhamitta, 149, 216
Bhasa, 219 Buddhapalita, 120, 122, 222
Bhaskara Vaiman, 273 Buddhavaipsa, 140
Bhikku-patimokkha, 164, 168, 169, Buddhavatamsaka, 142
170 Buddhavatamsaka-sutra, 128
BhikkhunT-vibhanga, 140, 163, 168 Buddhist Tantrism, 360-376
Bhiksunl-pratimoksa-sutra, 164 Bukhtyar Khilji, 177
 Burma, 53, 54, 60, 86, 137, 143, Chezarla, 338
206, 230, 282, 283, 285, 286, 287, Chiengmai, 52
288, 294, 348, 356, 383; 431,454, Chien-Lung, Emperor, 439
457, 460, 461, 462, 466, 472, 480 Chi-k’ai, 130
Bushido, 135 Chi-kwan, 130
Bu-ston, 80, 111, 407 China, 60, 63, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70,
Byang-chhub,,366 71, 74, 75, 93, 108, 122, 124, 125,
127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133,
C aitanya , 3 135, 142, 143, 184, 185, 206, 23p,
Caitasika Dharmas, 115 240,241, 242,243, 244,246, 252*
Caitya, 118, 355 255, 261, 262, 272, 274, 276, 282,
Cakkavatti-sihanada suttanta, 156 297, 298, 338, 356, 380, 397, 398,
Cakravartf Mandhata, 291 422, 437, 439, 440, 441, 454, 458,
Caliya-parvata, 216 459, 460, 463, 472, 473, 480
Cambodia, 53, 60, 138, 214, 276, QTing-chou, 262
288, 303, 434, 457, 460, 462, 480 Chinve, 338
Campa, 92, 93, 272, 276 Chi-tsang, 129
Canda-kinnara Jataka, 152, 302 Chos drug bsdus-pahi hzin-bris, 372
Capata, 88 Chun-lun (Madhyamika-sastra), 129
Cariya-pitaka, 140, 141, 217 Ch’u-Wen-tai, 263
Celebes, 299 Cokkuka (Kashgar), 66
Cen-kwan, 246 Coja, Rajendra, 1, 287
Cen-ti, 242 Confucius, 67
Ceti-Vamsa, 155 Constantine, 71
Cetiyagiri, 322 Councils, Buddhist, 271, 386
Ceylon, 47, 48, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, ------ First, 35-41, 318, 319,479
59, 60, 85, 104, 136, 143, 206, ------ Second, 41-44,479
210, 211, 213, 214, 218, 255* ------ Third, 44-47, 479
256, 261, 272, 276, 282, 283, 287, ------ Fourth, 47-50
288, 298, 299, 300, 322, 336, 337, Culavamsa, 139
338, 356, 383, 386, 390, 395, 398, Cullavagga, 40, 43, 98, 170, 171,
402, 416, 426, 427, 428, 429, 430, 173, 174, 175
432, 433, 441, 454,457, 458, 459, Cunda, 28
461, 462, 466, 472, 473, 474, 480 Cyrenia, 59
Chabbaggiya, 97, 168
Ch’an (Dhyana), 125 D aladavamsa , 279
Chandi Mendut, 294, 304 Dalai Lama, Fifth, 81, 82
Chandogya Upanisad, 346 Dalai Lama, Seventh, 82
Chandragupta 11, 64 Dal-gsang-hdus-pa, 362
Chandraklrti, 120, 224 Dandan Uiliq, 296
Chang*an, 240, 247, 256, 262, 263,274 Dan (Jap. Zen), 125
Chatjha Sangayana, 54 Dan (Tibet), 236
Chaukhanai, 313 Da&bhumlsvara, 141
Ch’eng-shih-tsung, 241 Dasuttara (suttanta), 156
Che'n-Hing-hsu, 441 Dbu-ma-rtsa, 373
Chen-ti, 129 Dengyo-Daishi, 131
Chen-tu, 246 Devadatta, 21, 27, 28, 97, 161, 170,
Chet Singh, Raja, 313 | 174, 293, 308, 318
 Devaguru Bodhiprabha, 234 Ekanath, 3
Devanamapiya Tissa, 50, 85 Ekavyavaharika, 112
Devapala-deva, 285 Ekayana, 128, 132
Dge-lugs-pa, 81 Elder Assagutta, 208
Dhamekh Stupa, 313, 314 Elder Rohaga, 208
Dhammacakkappavattana-sutta, 156 Elder Nagasena, 209
Dhammapada, 140, 156-159, 216, 371 >
383, 384 F a -F a n o , 441
Dham m apadatthakatha, 216, 218 Fa-hien, 64, 66, 93, 94, 110, 125,
D bam m arakkhita, Yona Dhamma- 127, 128, 181, 183, 184, 185, 188,
rakkhita, 196 201, 255, 256, 257, 258, 259, 260,
Dhammaruci-nikaya, 136 261, 262, 269, 274, 279, 312, 318,
Dhammasangani, 140, 213, 217 319, 320, 480
Dhammavijaya, 56 Fa-sing-tsung, 128
Dharmavijaya, 464, 470 Fondukistan, 295
Dhammayuttika-nikaya, 138 Fo-shwo-cie-tsie-cin (the Sandhi-
D hanakataka, 110 nirmocana-sutra), 243
DharanT-pitaka, 363 Fo-shwo-o-mi-to-cin (the Sukha-
Dhaim abodhi (Ta-ma-phu-thi), 244 vatyamrta-vyuha), 241
DharmakTrti, 122, 225, 226, 395 Fo-shwo-pao-yu-cin (the Ratna-
Dharmalak$ana, 243, 246 megha-sutra), 249, 250
Dharmapala, Acarya, 230
D harm araja, 282 G au^ a, King of, 202
D harmarak$ita, 62, 246 Gandaraditya, 335
Dharmasoka, 218, 339 Gandavyuha, 141, 349
D harm ottara, 395 Gandhara, 64, 222, 233 258, 264,
Dhatupafha, 187 265, 268, 338
Dhyanabhadra, 8, 339 Gandhavamsa, 211
Dhyani Bodhisattvas, 366, 367 Gandistotra-gStha, 220
Dhyani Buddhas, 299, 366, 367, 370 Gathas, 144
Dlgha-nikaya, 1, 12, 14, 58, 140, 152, Gautama Buddha, 21, 22, 23, 24,
153, 154, 387, 396, 403 404, 423, 280, 312, 320, 340
428 GautamT MahapajapatT, 3, 22
Dinnaga, 122, 212, 224, 225, 395, 425 Gautamiputra Satakarni, 334
DTpankaia Srljnana, 78 Gautam iputra Vihara, 333
Dlpankara Buddha, 38, 43, 44, 139, Gavampati, 171
147, 149, 150, 161, 162, 191, 192, Gaya, 155, 162, 212, 260, 280, 286,
194, 226-231, 233-235, 325, 389 301, 308, 313
DTpavamsa, 279, 385 Gaya6lr§a Hill, 25
Divakaram itra, 224 Ghantsala, 336
Divyavadana, 384 Ghosaka, 419
Dogcn, 72, 134, 252 Ghositar3ma Vihara, 322
Dpal-hkhor-btsan, 78 Gilgit, 12, 141, 143, .164, 170
DutthagSmanl, 86 Girnar, 328
Dvadasayatnani, 371. GItabhasya, 355
Dvags-po-Iha-rje, 378, 381 Goli, 338
Dvara-nikaya, 137 Gomatl, Vihara, 256
Dvyasraya-kavya, 335 Gosala Makkali, 345
 Govindacandra, King, 312 Hosso (Dharmalaksana), 131
G rdhrakuta, 319 Houei-Kouo, 132
Grhavarma, 203 Hphags-pa, '81
Greco-Buddhism, 267 Hsing-tsung, 129
gSer-glin-pa, 381 Hung-men, 68
Guhya-samaja Tantra, 371 Huns, 266, 267, 268, 269
Gunamati, 329 Huviska, 113
Gunarata, 242 Hwa-yen-cin-shi-tsz’-can-yun-cien-lei-
Guna Varman, 94 cie, 128
Gun-Than-Pa, Upasaka, 234 Hwa-yen-sutra, 128
GuA Than, 234 Hwa-yen-tsung, 129
Guru Gampopa, 376 Hwa-yen-yi-shan*ciao-i-fan-tshi-can,
GurugugadharmSkara, 234, 238 128
Guru-yoga, 378 Hwui-Li, 186, 189
Gusiwada, 336
Gyan-Tse, 299 I ddam algoda Basnayaka Nilame, 51
Igen, 134
H ad d a , 295 Iksvaku, 338
Han, 261 India, 8, 21, 143
Han dynasty, 242 Indo-China, 272, 276, 278
Haradatta, 347 Indonesia, 93, 94, 95, 276, 287
Hariti, 296, 298 Indus, 258, 268, 273
Harivamsa, 355 Ippen, 72, 134
Harivarman, 117 Iran, 272, 276
Har$acarita> 224 Iroha-uta, 251
Haisa Vardhana, 64, 75, 108, 182- Isipatan: see Sarnath
195,202, 203, 204, 205, 206, 257, Issiq-kul, 265
269, 273, 325, 357 lsvarasena, 225
H atthaka, 168 Itivuttaka, 140, 217
^Ibrom-ston, 79 i-tsing, 93, 94, 112, 120, 183, 185,
Hbyung-ba, 373 186, 187, 190, 220. 222, 225,255,
Hetu-bindu, 226 274-276
Hetucakra-damaru, 225
Hetuvidya, 186, 187 J a g a d d a l a , 65, 177, 192
Hiei, Mount, 131 Jagarabhivamsa, 53
Hien-sheu-ta-shi, 128 Jagara Mahathera, 137
Higashi-hongan-ji, 399, 401 Jainas, 270, 354, 357
Hikkaduve Siri Sumangaia, 51 Jaina shrines, 319
Hihayana, Hlnayanist, 79, 94,109, Jajali, 2
143, 160, 161, 162, 190, 201, 219, Jalandhara, 200, 269, 273
225, 264, 266, 267, 272, 287, 326, Jaliya (suttanta), 153
350, 383, 410, 416, 418, 449, 452 Jambhalas, 299
Hing*si-fang«fei-chi-ngo, 127 JambudvTpa, 208, 333
Hire-Gutti, 335 Japan, 60, 122, 126, 128, 131, 132,
Hkhor-lde (Jnanaprabha), 78 133, 134, 135, 142, 251, 255, 263,
Hobogirin, 142,392 283, 369, 370, 380, 441, 454, 457,
Honen, 133 458, 459, 460, 461, 462, 463, 472,
Horyuji, 70, 255, 298 473, 480
Japanese Zen Buddhism, 134,135,245 Kaliriga, 56, 155, 279
Jataka, 110, 139, 140, 141, 144, 179, Kalikala-sarvajna, 230
216, 277, 281, 288, 304, 332, 384, Kalyana Sri, 227
436,437 KamalasTla, 76, 122, 222, 226, 389
Jataka-mala, 141, 187 Kamalagul>a, 112
Jatakatthakatha, 104, 216, 217 Kambuja: see Cambodia
Java, 93, 261, 276, 282, 283, 285, Kampilya, 330
287, 288, 294, 299 Kanada, 218
Jaya Indravarman, King, 93 Kanakasri, 229, 235
Jayakamadeva, King, 236 Kanauj, 60, 64, 75, 166, 203, 236,
Jayakesin, 335 257, 260, 269, 273, 312, 317
Jayasena, 272 Karici, 225,272
Jaya varman VII, King, 91 Kang Yu-wei, 397, 440
Jayafcila, 232: also see Appendix to Kanhapa, 231
Chapter LX Kaniska, 38, 47, 49, 50, 60, 63, 105,
Jeta, Prince, 26 195, 199, 200, 201, 202, 219, 222,
Jetavana, 26, 136, 152, 173, 216, 317 258, 268, 294
Jimuta Vahana, 202 Kanjur, 142
Jinagupta, 265 Knnkhavitaram, 215
Jitari, Acarya, 227, 228: also see Kao-chang (Turfan), 66, 263
Appendix to Chapter IX Kapila, 218, 346
Jiun Sonja, 399 Kapilavastu, 21, 26, 28, 82, 149, 151,
Jfvaka, 173 155, 170, 216, 260, 270, 279, 431
Jnanagupta, 159 Kapisa, 267, 268, 273
Jnanaprabha, 232, 233, 235, 237, 238 Karanda-vyuha, 384
Jnanasrl Mitra, 230 Kara-shahr, 239, 256, 264
Jnana-siddhi, 359 Karma, 170, 200, 374
Jodo, 131, 132, 133, 136 Kashgar, 200, 240, 257, 274
Jodo-shin, 131, 133, 251 Kashmir, 200, 201, 222, 223, 232>
Jojitsu (Satyasiddhi-sastra), 131 238, 239, 240, 268, 269, 287
Ju-ju~shin-ron, 251 Kasia, 315
Jyotipala, 215, 339 Kasikavrtti, 187
Jyotipalamanava, 147 Kasi-Kosala, 155
Kassapa, Coliya, 428
K abir , 357 Kassapa, 18, 20, 151, 280
Kabul, 196, 267 Kassapa-sihanada-suttanta, 154
Kaccayana, 139, 314 Kas>apa Buddha, 147
Kadaphises 1 and 11, 199, 202 Kasyaplyas, 108, 109, 247
Kajangala* 205, 208 Kasyapa Matanga, 124
Kakkata Jataka, 302 Kasyapa, 323
Kakusandha, 151 Kasyapa of Uruvela, 25
Kalandaka, 166 Katha-vatthu, 99, 114, 119, 140, 217
Kalacakra, 239, 363 Kathavatthu-pakarana, 47
Kalasan, 95 Katyayana, 39: also see Kaccayana
Kalasi (Kalasigamo), 197 Kau Hwei-wen, 126
Kalasoka, 44 Kausambi, 42, 60, 64, 216, 260, 270,
Kalhana, 201 280, 321, 322
Kalidasa, 219, 296 Keddah, 89
Kegon (Avatamsaka), 131, 134 Kurkihar, 285, 286
Ken-mitsunikyo-ron, 251 Kuru-Pancala, 155
Kevatta (sutta), 154 Kusha (Abhidharma-kosa), 131
Khai-Yuen-lu, 247 Kusinagara, 154, 155,270, 279,308,
Khandhakas, 140, 163, 170-175 315 : see also Kusinara
Kharosthi, 195, 199 Kusin'ara, 6, 28, 230, 474
Khotan, 65, 66, 73, 240, 256, 257, 274 Kutadanta-sutta, 1
Khri-sroivlde-btsan, 75, 76, 77, 238 Kutadanta-suttanta, 153
Khuddaka-nikaya, 140,152, 153, 216, Kuthodaw temple, 432
217 Kwei-ki, 127
Khuddaka-patha, 140, 216, 217 Kwanjin, 132
Kiai-hien, 127 Kyang-ma-rtsa, 373
Kittima Bhiksu, 421 Kyanzittha, 88
Kiuisiri Rajasingh, 426 Kyo-gyo-shinsho, 251
Kin-kang-chi (Vajramati), 127
Kin-she-pi-ye-pu (KasyapTyas), 247 L adakh, 73, 78, 457
Kisa Samkicca, 4, 17 Lakkhana-suttanta, 156
Kiyozumi, 136 Lalitavistara, 141, 144, 145, 151, 159,
Kizil, 296 305
Koliyas, 279 Lama Taranatha, 188
Konagamana, 151, 280 Lamaism, 191, 363
Kondanna Buddha, 150 L anka: see Ceylon
Kongobuji, 251 Lankavatara-sutra, 123, 141, 357, 384
Konkanapura, 280 Laos, 432, 435, 454, 457, 462
Kosala, 21, 60, 64, 308, 316 Lao-tseu, 67
Koya-san, 132 Lde-Chug-gon, 232
Kroraina (Loulan), 66 Lhasa, 74, 78, 81, 82,191, 239, 425
Krsigrama, 148 Li Se, 339
Ksantivadin, 288 Liang Chi-chao, 397
Ksemendra, 195 Liang Wu-ti, 244
Ksitigarbha, 236 Lieu Hing-si, 126
Ksitigarbha-sutra, 438 Lii Kuang, 240
Kuan Yin, 261 Liu Chih-tien, 439
Kubiraka, 337 Lohicca (suttanta), 153
Kuci, 239,240 Lokkigundi, 336
Kukai (Kobo Daishi), 132 Lo-yan, 246
Kukkutarama, 99 Lo-yang, 124, 262, 274
Kukkutika (Gokulika), 112 Luang Prabang, 435
Kula-cudamani Tantra, 365 Lu-chen, 441
KumaradevT, 312, 317 Lumbim, 21,82,83,270,308, 309, 321
Kumarajlva, 125-129, 159, 221, 239, Luh-’rh-shi-’rh-min-liao-lun (the
241, 248 vinaya - dvavimsati - prasannartha-
Kumara Kassapa, 155 sastra), 244
Kumaralabdha (Kum aralata), 221
Kundalavana Vihara, 200 M accha -S ur asen a , 155
Kundalinl Yoga, 360 Madhyamika, 120, 121, 122, 124’
Kun-pien-fan-pieh-lun (the Madhyan- 127,129, 131, 220,221, 222, 241,
tavibhaga-sastra) 244 363,390, 391, 394, 409,480
 Magadha, 21, 55, 60, 64, 112, 113, MahaySna (yanist, ySnism), 7, 63,
230, 242, 260, 271, 275, 285,308, 6 9 ,9 3 ,9 5 ,9 6 , 105, 109, 112, 116,
318 117, 118,119, 120,126, 130, 132,
M ahabharata, 2, 3, 269, 344, 355> 136, 141, 143, 159, 160, 190, 219,
481, 482 221,223,224,239,242, 243, 247,
Mahabhajya, 187 249, 272, 273, 350, 358, 363, 378,
Mahabodhivaipsa, 144 382,383,392,394,401, 406, 407,
Mahadeva, 9, 115, 116, 117 4 08,410,412,416,418, 425, 443,
Mahagovinda (suttanta), 155 444,448,449,452,454, 481
Mahakassapa, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 47, Mahendra, 56, 59, 85, 86, 322
52, 63, 78, 110, 148, 175, 319 M ahinda,45, 47, 50, 213
Mahakosala, 272 Mahirakula (Mihirakula), 269
Mahali (suttanta), 153 MahTsasaka, 38, 104, 105, 108, 113,
Mahamaudgalyayana, 146 : see also 120, 217, 247
Moggall5na, Mahamaudgalyayana Maitreyanatha, 223
M ahanidana (suttanta), 154 MaitrT Gupta, 228
Mahaniddesa, 23 Majjhirna, 41, 215, 354
Mahanik5ya, 138 Majjhima-nikaya, 140, 152, 164, 196,
Maha-paccarT, 215 207
Mahapadana-sutta, 144 Malaya, 89, 94, 230, 275, 287, 472,
Mahapadana (suttantas), 154 480
Mahaparinibbapa-sutta, 6,40, 98, 144, Mandhatu Jataka, 302
154, 173, 224, 448 Mangala Buddha, 147
Mahaparinibbana-suttanta, 154, 155 Manikyala, 282
MahapajapatT Gautamf, 3, 448 ManjusrT, 161, 328
MahaprajapatT Gautair.T, 22, 39, 175 MaffjusrTmulakalpa, 142, 362
M ahaprajna-paramita, 241 ManorathapuranT, 215, 339
Mahaprajna-paramitii-sastra, 129, 409 Manu, 354
M ahaprajnaparam ita-sutra, 248 Mara, 23, 24, 148
Mahaprajfia-paramita-sutra-s'astra, Maravijayottungavarman, 304, 339
130 Marlci, 299
MahasamT Sangha raj a, 90 Mathura, 60, 63, 64, 99, 178, 230,
Mahasanghika(s), 99, 100, 104, 106, 259, 269, 284, 285, 289, 291, 292,
107, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 302
115, 117, 118,119, 144, 145, 146, M atikatthakatha, 215
175,218,247, 348, 362, 479 Maudgalyayana, 25, 26, 28, 149
M ahasatipafthan^-suttanta, 155 Meghama^ava, 147/
Mahasthavi'ra Revata, 212, 213 Meghavarna, KTrti Sri, 211
Mahasudassana-suttanta, 155 Menander, King, 32, 61, 195, 196,
Mahasupina Jataka, 306 197, 198, 199, 207, 208, 269
Mahavagga, 43, 140, 163, 170, 171, Mettiya-Bhummajaka, 97
174, 385 Milinda : see Menander
Mahavaipulya-sutra, 160 Milinda-panha, 139, 195, 196, 197,
Mahavamsa, 38, 44, 45, 50, 51, 139, 198, 199, 207, 208, 209
144, 211, 214, 383 Mithyadrsti, 353
Mahavastu, 38, 39, 111, 114, 141, Mhah Ris, 237,238
143, 144, 145-149, 151, 155, 159 Moggaliputta, 323
MahavTra, 320 Moggaliputta Tissa, 45, 62
 Moggalftna, 139, 477 Nepal, 7, 21, 84, 124, 143, 234 , 236,
Mok^agupta, 265 237, 281, 282, 285, 298, 299, 369,
Mongolia, 143, 369, 457, 472, 480 383, 457, 463, 472, 480
Maitrlpa (Avadhutipa), 231 Ne Than, 191, 238, 239
Mou-tseu, 67 Netti, 218
Mowgli, 272 Netti-pakarana, 139
Mula-sarvastivada(vadins), 83, 87, Nichiren, 72,’ 131, 135, 252
141, 145, 170, 416 Nidanakatha, 144, 145, 148, 149,
Mundaka, 9 151, 152, 386
Niddesa, 110, 140
N adapada (or Narottamapada), 229 Nigantha Nataputta, 15, 16, 156
Naga Gopala, 267 Nikayas, 44, 141, 144, 164, 215 216,
Nagananda, 202 349, 350
N5ga Mucalinda, 302, 303 Niranjana, 171
Nagarjuna, 49, 80, 120, 121,126, 129, Nirvana, 142, 270, 370, 379
130, 141, 212, 220, 221, 222, 212* Nissaggiya pacittiya, 165, 167, 168
337, 351, 352, 362, 374, 419, 425 Nyaya-bhasya, 226
Nagarjunakonda, 111, 113, 116, 118* Nyaya-dvara~tarka-£astra, 187
146, 277, 284, 291, 293,300, 302, Nyaya-pravesa, 225
314, 336, 338 Nyaya-sutra, 353
Nagasena, 196, 197, 198, 206, 207, Nyaya-vartika, 225
208, 209 Nyaya-vartika-tatparya-tTka, 226
Nagasena, Mahlithera, 207
Nagathera, 439 O baku, 131, 134
Naiyayikas, 352, 354 OdantapurT, 65, 177, 191, 192
NSlagiri, 308
Odivisa, 225 : see also Orissa
Nalanda, 64, 65, 76, 95, 177, 186, O-phi-ta-mo-ku-sho-shih-lun (the
188, 189, 190, 192, 227, 228, 229, Abhidharma-ko£a-vyakhy5-sastra)*
231, 246, 251, 271, 272, 275, 285, 244
286, 287, 299, 304, 322, 325, 326. O-phi-ta-mo-shun-can-li-lun (the
329, 339, 418
Abhidharma-nyayanusara-sastra),
Nanda, 220
248
Nalanda, University of, 75, 79, 95, Orissa, 1, 127, 205, 272, 278, 360
182,185,190,193,194, 204, 205
Nalanda MahSvihara, 225, 325
N an-ngo, 126 P a - chj, 397, 398
Nanda Vaccha, 17 Padmasambhava, 76, 226, 299
Napissara Thera, 401 Pancappakaranatthakatha, 217
Nanking, 127, 226, 242, 244, 440 Panca-slia, 438, *482
ffinodaya, 212 Panini, 187, 344, 355
Nara, 255, 298 Pramana-vartika, 226
N aradatthera, 439 Paftft&loka, MahSthera, 432
NaropS, 79, 228, 229, 381 PapancasudanI, 215
NasadTya-sukta, 9, 11 ParamatthadlpanT, 217
Nayapala, King, 237, 253 Paramatth^jotika, 217
Nei-phan-chin (Mahanirvana-sQtra), Paramatthamanj usa, 217-218
130 Paramitas, 33, 150, 151, 162
Nenbutsu, 133, 136 Parileyyaka, 216
 Pataliputra, 44, 46, 54, 56, 59, 99, Rakhhita, Mahathcra, 51
103, 110, 112, 146, 184, 196,208, Ral-pa-chen, 77
242, 260, 271, 321 Ramagrama, 270, 279
Patanjali, 187, 212 Ramanuja, 356
Patth&na-atthakatha, 218 Ramapala, 192
Patidesanlya, 165 Ramapurva, 283, 294, 321
Patimokkha, 215 Ran-byun-rdo-rje, 80
Patisambhida, 110, 140 Rastrakuta, 330, 334
Peta-vatthu, 217 Ratana-sutta, 148
Phyag-rgya-chhen-po, 370 Ratnabhadra (Rin-Chhen-Zang-Po).
Pingala-nadT, 373 232, 238
Pippalivana, 279 Ratnakara, R atnakarasanti, R atna­
Piyadassi, 383 karasanti pada, 230, 231, 235, 236
Piyaratanatissa, 427 Ratnakfrti, 230, 235
Pong Tuk, 89, 90 Ratnakuta, 142
Porbandar, 328 Ratnaprabha, 233
Posadhasthapana, 170 RatnavalT, 202
Prabhakara Vardhana, Maharajadhi- Revata, 43 : see also Mahasthavira
raja, 203 Revata Sahajati, 43
Pracchannabauddha, 352 Revata, Mahasthavira, 212, 213
Prajna, 101, 102, 115, 117, 130, 351, Rgveda, 9, 11, 385
365,449, 450, 451 Rinsai, 131, 134, 135
Prajna-paramita(s), 142, 289, 397, Ritsu (Vinaya), 131
407, 411 Rupasiddhi, 139
Prajna-param ita-hrdaya, 399
Pramana-samuccaya, 225 § a d d a n t a Jataka, 288
Pramana-sastra-nyayapravesa, 225 Saddharm a-pufidam a, 132, 136, 141;
Pramana-viniscaya, 226 159-162, 349, 355, 384
Prasenajit, 26, 316 Saddharm a-pundarika-sutra, 224, 252
Pratimoksa, 108 : see also Patimok­ Sadvargiya, 97
kha Saga], Sagala, Sakala (Sialkot), 61,
Pratitya-sam utpada, 114, 121, 162, 197, 269
374, 425, 449 Saheth-M aheth, 317 : see also Sra­
Pratltya-samutpada-hrdaya, 425 vasti
Pratitya-samutpSda-tathata, 104 Sailendra(s), 95, 287
Pratyeka-buddhas, 281 Sakaymo Bodo (Sakyamuni Buddha),
Puggalapannatti, 140, 217 , 202
Pulakesin 11, 272 Sakyamoni, 74, 82, 136, 146, 147, 154,
Purana Kassapa, 17 228, 349
Samannaphala-sutta, 12, 14, 16, 18
R a h u la , 22, 26, 83, 148, 149, 152 Sam annaphala-suttanta, 153
Rajagrha, 25, 27, 35, 36, 37, 54, 55> Samanta-pasadika, 38,43,44,215,443-
98, 104, 149, 152, 173, 175, 189, Sambhogakaya, 119
216, 229, 260, 271, 279, 308 318, Sam bhuta SanavasT, 32, 42
478 Samjna, 12
Rajaraja I, 287, 304 SammohavinodanT, 217, 218
RajataranginX, 49, 201 Sam pasadanlya-suttanta, 156
Rajyasri, 108, 203, 205 Samudra G upta, M aharaja, 211
Samyak-Sambuddhas, 160 Shi-Va-Chho, 227
Samyutta-nikaya, 106, 140, 152, 374 Sho-bo-gen-zo, 252
Sanchi, 64, 277, 281, 284, 321, 322, Shoguns, Shogunate, 73, 135
323, 324, 337, 477 Shotoku, 70, 255
Sanghamitta (Sanghamitra), 45, 47? Siam, 137,143,206,288, 302, 303,
59, 85 454, 457, 460, 462, 472
Sanjaya, 14, 19, 20, 25 Siddha D am rupa, 231
Sanjaya Belatthiputta, 18 Siddha Smrtyakara, 231
Sanjna, 102 Siddhapur, 3 35
Sankara, 352, 353, 362 Siddhartha, 21, 170, 236, 280, 292,
Sankasya, Sankisa, Samkassa (Kapi- 306
tha), 60, 166, 260, 269, 291, 303, Siddhas, 228, 229, 230, 231, 368
308, 317, 318 Siddhasar, 328
Sans-rgyas-rgya-mtso, 82 Siddhi, 271
Santaraksita (Acarya), 75, 76, 83, Sigalov'ada-sutta, 58
, 122, 222, 226, 227, 238, 389 Sigiriya, 301
Santibhadra, 231 Sikkim, 80, 457, 472
Santideva, 120, 222, 231 Silabhadra, 146, 186, 194, 255, 271,
Santiparva, 2 , 325
Santisiri, 338 Siladitya, 203
Saptaparni, Sattaparnl, 36, 175, 318> Sllahar, 334
319 Silamanju, 83
Saratthappakasim, 215 Simha-Vaktra, 225
Sariputra, Sariputta, 25, 26, 28, 149’ Singalovada-suttanta, 156
323, 476 Singasari, 307
£ariputraprakarana, 219, 220 Si-pu-luh, 126
Sarnath, 25, 57, 64, 83, 230, 260, 283 Siri Nissanka, 462
285,301, 312,313,314,382,476 Sittanavasal, 301
Sarvabhibhu Buddha, 147 Si-yu-ki, 193
Sarvastivada(vadins) 48, 63, 93, 105- Sona, 87, 215, 286, 287
109, 116, 119, 141, 200, 219, 223, Sonadanda-suttanta, 153
240, 241, 393, 394 Sonakojivisa, 172
Sasanavamsa, 137 Song-yun, 66
Sa-skya, 80 Sonuttara, 208
Sa-skya-pa, 81 Soreyya, 43, 166
Satavahana(s), 63, 220, 336 Sovira, 155
Saundarananda, 141, 200, 219 Spu-ch’uan, 262
Sekhiya, 163, 168 170 Spwang, 78
Sha-ki, 260 Spyod-pa, 380
Shan-tao (Jap. Zendo), 128, 133 Sragdhara, 220
Shao-lin-ssu, 125 Sravasti, Savatthi, 15, 149, 152, 167,
She-lun-tsung, 242, 243 , 216, 230, 260, 270, 308, 316, 317
Shen-si, 124 SrTgarbha, 227
Shes-rab, 366 ^rl-Vijaya, the kingdom of, 94, 275,
Shingon, 131, 132, 251, 369 , 276
Shinkot, 195, 198 Srlyajna Satakarni, 333
Shinran, 72, 133, 134, 252 Sroft-btsan-sgam-po, 73,74, 75, 78, 83
Shintoism, 70 Ssu*lun-tsung, .127
 Sthane£vara, 269 T ’ang T ’ai-tsung, 262, 441
Sthiramati, 122, 123, 224, 329 Tan-lan (Jap. Donlan), 127
Subahu, 171 Tannisho, 251
Subhadda, 35, 36, 40, 97 Tan Szutung, 440
Suddhodana, 21, 26, 27, 149, 151, Tantra (Tantras, Tantric, Tantrism,
260, 290, 295 etc.). 127, 131, 132, 142, 251, 268,
Suhrllekha, 222, 253 326, 358, 359, 360, 363, 364, 371,
Sui, 262 372, 375, 376
Sujata, 4, 23 Taoism, 245
Sukha-prabhasvara-nirvikalpa, 379 Taoist, 185
SukhavatT-vyuha, 443 Ta-pan-jo-po-lo-mi-to-chin (Mah3-
SumangalavilasinT, 215 prajfiapdramitS-sQtra), 130, 245, 248
Sumatiklrti, 235 Ta-pao-tsi-cin (the M aharatnakuta-
Sumatra, 94, 230, 231, 263, 275, 285, sutra), 250
287, 288 Tapussa, 24, 151, 278
Suqisumara-giri, 216 Tara, 336
Sunyata, 126, 222, 235, 365, 366, 370 Taranatha, 81, 190, 285
Suprajna (Legs-Pahi-Shes-Rab), 232 Tardu Shad, 266
Surasena, 209 Tarka-sastra, 224
Surangama-sutra, 438 Ta-shan-chan-yeh-lun (the Karma.
Suryasoma, 240 siddhaprakarana-sastra), 248
Susumna, 373 Ta-shan-cie-ye-shan-tin-cin (the sutra
Sutta-pitaka, 38, 48, 140, 142, 152” of the Mahayana), 250
156 ya-shan-cin-kan-ci-cu-phu-sa-siu-hhin
Suttanipata, 13, 140, 141, 144, 216* fan-cin (the Mahayanasajra-cuda-
219, 384 mani - bodhisattva - carya - varga-
Sutta-vibhanga, 163 sutra), 250
Suvarna-bhumi, 59, 87 Ta*Shan-pu (Mahayana), 247
Suvarna-deva, 264 Ta-shung-pu (Mahasanghika), 247
Suvarna-dvTpa, 95, 230, 285, 304 Tathagata, 213, 215, 308
Suvarna-prabhasa, 141 Tathagata guhyaka, 141
Suvarna-puspa, 264 Tathagataraksita, 235
Suyagada, 12, 18 Tathata, 119*
Svayambhunatha, 282 Tattva-yoga, 371
Syadvada, 16 Tendai, 131, 369
Tevijja (suttanta), 154, 155
T a - ci - t u - lun (M ahaprajnaparam ita- Thabs, 366
sutra-s&stra), 130, 241 Thailand, 51, 52, 53, *0, 86, 89, 90,
T’ai-Hsu, Rev., 397-399, 440, 441, 92,138, 206,287,.288, 294,302,303,
461 398,426, 432, 433,434, 436,441,
Tai-tsung, Emperor, 74, 263, 274 454, 457, 460, 462, 472, 480
Tak$asila, 63, 258, 268, 273, 284, Than, 127
293, 314, 321 Thanton (Sudhanamavatl), 87, 88,
Tajaja, 328, 329 459
Ta-mo-liu-ci, 249 Thera Bhadanta Sfha, 335
Tamralipti, 64, 230, 256, 272, 275 Thera Buddhamitta, 215
T ’ang (dynasty), 246, 247, 249, 250* Thera Buddha Siri, 215
255, 264, 274, 276 Thera Dathanaga, 215
Thera Dhammapala, 217 Udyana (Uddiyana), 64, 258, 268
Thera Moggaliputta, 45 UdyantapurT, 76 : also see O danta-
Thera Sanghapala, 213 puri
Thera Siggava, 45 U dyotakara, 225, 353
Thera Tissa, 46,47 Unadi-sutras, 187
Thera-gatha, 140, 217 Unrai W ogihara, 401
rheravada, 136, 212, 217, 367, 371 Upade^a-sastras, 200
TherT-gStha, 4, 140, 217, 350 Upali (Yen-po-li; U-P-Li), 26, 35, 38,
Tho-lin, 237 40, 126, 149, 174, 175
Thuparama, 50, 282, 301 Upananda, 97
Tibet, 7, 60, 124, 132, 142, 143, 226> Upanisads, 11, 12, 353
232, 235, 237, 238, 276, 361, 369, Upatissa, 218
370, 372, 380, 441, 457, 460, 463, Upaya, 366, 367, 373
472, 480 Uposatha (Posadha), 171, 172
Tibetan : Lamaism, 129, Tantric Uppalavanna, 4
scriptures, 361, Tripitaka, 195, Uruvela, i 51
Yoga, 373 U ttara, 43, 86, 87, 287
T ien-Shan, 265 Uttaradhyayana-siitra, 16
T’ien-t’ai, 126, 128. 130, 131, 132, 397
Tien-t’ai-tsung, 130 V ac aspati , 353
T ’ien-ts’in, 127, 440 Vacaspati Misra, 226
Tikanipata, 16 Vadanyaya, 226
Tilopa, 228, 372, 381 Vada-Vidhi, 224
Ti-Iun-tsung (the Dasabhumika Vaibhara, 318, 319
School), 250 Vaipulya-sutra, 141
Tissa M oggaliputta, 45 Vairocanaraksita, 235
Tocharian, Tocharish, 263, 264 VaiialT, 6, 41,*43, 54, 60, 98, 112, 146,
To-Lien, 438 148, 166, 174, 175, 216, 260, 270.
Tri-dandin, 354 279, 308, 320, 321
Tri-Hai, 438 Vaisesikas, 352, 380, 381
Tripitaka, 47, 50, 53, 88, 108, 139, Vajira-nana, M ahathera, 430
140, 142, 213, 221, 249, 459, 480 Vajji-Malla, 155
Tshin-i, 242 Vajjiputtaka, 174, 175
Ts’ing-yuen, 126 Vajracchedika, 443
Tson-kha-pa, 79, 80, 81 Vajracchedika-prajna-param ita, 224
Tu Hwei-yang, 126 Vajrapani, 293
Tun-huang, 68, 256, 274, 297 Vajrasana, 211, 231, 236
Turfan, 220, 263, 264, 2#$, 266, 296, VajrSsana Mahavihara, 229
Tusita, 149 Vajrasanipada, 229
VajrasrT (Dorje Dpal), 238
U dabh an^ a (U dakakhanda), 268 Vajrasucl, 3, 384
Udana, 140, 217 Vajrayana, 358, 359, 361, 368, 370
Udanavarga, 353 ValabhT, 177, 185, 190, 272, 329, 330
UdayT, 167 Valahassa Jataka, 302
U ddaka R am aputta (U draka Rama- VaHktframa, 175
putra), 23, 156 Vaht^Tki, 219
Udumbarika-sThanada-sutta, 16 Vaipsarakkhita, 439
Udumbarika-sThanada-suttanta, 156 Vanaprastha, 10, 347
 Varahapurana, 355 Vinaya, 38, 126,131, 137, 139, 142,
V araprabha Bodhisattva, 161 144, 173,175, 179, 180, 187, 200,
Varsaganya, 353 215
Varsakara, 297 Vinaya-dhara, 111
Vaiiska, 202 Vinaya-pitaka, 111, 139, 140, 141 *
Vassakara, 6 142, 144, 162-175, 178, 180, 210,
Vassavasa, 171» 172 384, 385, 386
Vasubandhu, 49, 83, 105, 107, 122, Vinaya-vibhasa, 48
123, 141, 212, 222,223, 224, 225 Vinaya-vibhasa-sastras, 200
268, 270, 271, 392 Vinaya-vinicchya, 210
Vasudhamma, 218 Vinltadeva, 107, 111, 114
Vasumitra, 98, 104, 105, 107, 109 Vipassl, 144, 154
114, 199, 200 VTrasaiva, 356
Vatsa, 321 Visakha, 4, 26, 149, 152
Vatsiputriya, 107, 225 Vi§nu-sukta, 11
Vatsyayana, 225 Visuddhimagga, 139, 213, 214, 216,
Vattagamam, 50, 86 217, 218
Vedana, 211
Vedas, 1, 186, 208, 271, 354 W ang W ei, 452
Vemana, 356 Wan-shu-sh'-li-pao-tsan-tho-lo-ni-cin
Veranja, 165, 216 (the Manjusri-ratnagarbha-dharanl
Vethadipa, 279 sutra), 250
Vetulyavadins, 136 Wan-shu-sh'-li-phu-man-hwui (the
Vibhanga, 140, 217 Samantamukha-parivarta), 250
Vibhangavagga, 152 Wei-shi-lun, 127
Vibhasa-s'astras, 200, 222 Wei-shi-’rh-shi-lun «the Vidya-
Vidarbha, 221 matrasiddhi-sastra), 248
Videha, 155 Wei-shi-san-shi-lun (the Vidyamatra-
Vidisa, 56, 322 siddhi-tridasa-sastra), 248
Vidudabha, 28 Wei-shi-siang-kiau, 127
Vidyadharas, 306 Wcn-Ch’eng, 74
Vidyamatrasiddhi-sastta (Chen-wei- Wu-cho, 127
shi-lun), 243 Wu-lian-sheu-ju-lai-hwui (the Ami-
Viet-Nam, 93, 136, 437, 438, 480 tayusa-vyuha), 250
Vijayapala, 230 Wu Tso-thien, 249
Vijayasambhava, 66
Vijitavl, Emperor, 150 Y abyum , 370
Vijnana, 242, 358 YajhasrT Gautamiputra, 220, 222
Vijnanavada, 127, 243, 246, 382 Yaksas, 284
Vijnanavadins, 373, 380, 381 Yaksis, 284
Vynaptimatrata-siddhi, 123, 224 Yamapata, 305
Vikramapuri, 65 Yama-sukta, 11
Vikrama&la, 7, 65, 78, 95, 177, 182> Yang Wen-hui, 398
188,190, 191, 194, 227 , 229, 230> Yarkand 200, 240, 274
231,233, 234, 235, 360 Yasa, 42,151
Vimana-vatthu, 140, 217 Yasodhara, 22, 26, 148, 149, 151
Vimsika, 224 Yasomati, 202
Vimuttimagga, 218 Yasomitra, 49, 187, 224, 421
Yas'ovarman, King, 91, 189 90,110,112,113, 120,125,127,181
Yen Ts’ung, 247 184, 186, 188, 189, 190, 194, 195,
Yer-Va, 239 200, 201, 203, 204, 205, 206, 208,
Yin-lun (Hetusastra), 247 221, 242, 243, 246, 247, 248, 250,
Yin-min-can-li-man-Iun-pan, (the 255, 257, 258, 262-74, 275, 280,
Nyayadvaratarka-sastra), 249 294, 310, 312, 313, 315, 316, 319,
Yin-min-nin-can-li-lun (the Hetu- 320, 321, 325, 327, 329, 339, 422,
vidya-ny2iyaprave£a-sastra), 249 480
Yi T ie n Lu, 69 Yuan Hiao, 69
Yiu-po-li-hwui (the Vinayaviniscaya- Yuan T so , 69
Upali-pariprccha), 250 Yueh-chi, 200
Yiu-shan-ni, 242 Yuganaddha, 370
Yogacara, 79, 116, 271, 352, 382 Yun Kang, 68, 297
Yogacara-bhumi-sastra, 223 Yuzunenbutsu, 131, 132 : see also
Yoga-mi-kiau, 127 Nenbutsu
Yoga-sastra, 264
Yonakas (Skt. Yavana), 196, 197 Z en Buddhism, 134, 135, 252, 361,
Yonas, 196 380
Yuan Chwang, 36, 37, 48, 49, 66, 75, Zla-od-gzhon-nu, 378