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The Gita, of course, again and again emphasizes the necessity of uprooting attachments to pleasures and antipathy to pains and of controlling desires (kama) ; but, though the Upanisads do not emphasize this idea so frequently, yet the idea is there, and it seems very probable that the Gita drew it from the Upanisads. Hindu tradition also refers to the Upanisads as the source of the Gita. Thus the Gita-mahatmya describes the Upanisads as the cows from which Kisna, the cowherd boy, drew the Gita as milk}. But the similarity of Buddhist ethical ideas to those of the Gita is also immense, and, had it not been for the fact that ideas which may be regarded as peculiarly Buddhistic are almost entirely absent from the Gita, it might well have been contended that the Gita derived its ideas of controlling desires and uprooting attach- ment from Buddhism. Tachibana collects a long list of Buddhist vices as follows?: anganam, impurity, lust, Sn. 517. ahankaro, selfishness, egoism, A. 1. 132; M. 111. 18, 32. mamankaro, desire, A. 1. 132; M. 111. 18, 32. mamayitam, selfishness, S.N. 466. mamattam, grasping, egoism, S.N. 872, 951. apekha, desire, longing, affection, S.N. 38; Dh. 345. iccha, wish, desire, covetousness. ea, desire, lust, greed, craving, S.N. 751; It. 92. asa, desire, longing, S.N. 634, 794, 864; Dh. 397. pipasd, thirst. esa, esanda, wish, desire, thirst, Dh. 335. akankha, desire, longing, Tha. 20. kificanam, attachment, S.N. 949; Dh. 200. gantho, bond, tie, S.N. 798; Dh. 211. adana-gantho, the tied knot of attachment, S.N. 794. giddhi, greed, desire, Sn. 328; M. 1. 360, 362. gedho, greed, desire, Sn. 65, 152. gahanam, entanglement, Dh. 394. gaho, seizing, attachment. jalini, snare, desire, lust, Dh. 180; A. 1. 211. pariggaho, attachment, Mahdanid. 57. chando, wish, desire, intention, S.N. 171, 203, etc. jata, desire, lust, S.N. 1.13; V.M. 1. Jigimsanata, covetousness, desire for, Vibhanga, 353. nyigimsanata, covetousness, V.M. 1. 23. tanha, tasina, lust, unsatisfied desire, passion. 1 Sarvopanisado gavo dogdha gopala-nandanah. * The Ethics of Buddhism, by S. Tachibana, p. 73. % xiv] The Ethics of the Gita and the Buddhist Ethics 497 upadanam, clinging, attachment, Dh. 11. 58, II. 230. panidhi, wish, aspiration, Sn. Sor. ptha, desire, envy, Tha. 1218. pemam, affection, love, A. III. 249. bandho, thong, bondage, attachment, Sn. 623; Dh. 344. bandhanam, bond, fetter, attachment, Sn. 522, 532; Dh. 345. nibandho, binding, attachment, S. 11. 17. vinibandhanam, bondage, desire, Sn. 16. anubandho, bondage, affection, desire, M. 111. 170; ft. gt. upanibandho, fastening, attachment, V.M. 1. 235. paribandho, Com. on Thi. p. 242. vago, human passion, evil, desire, lust, passem. sdrago, sdrajjana, sdrayitattam, affection, passion, Mahanid. 242. rati, lust, attachment, Dh. 27. manoratho, desire, wish (?). ruct, desire, inclination, Sn. 781. abhilaso, desire, longing, wish, Com. on Peta-vattu, 154. lalasa, ardent desire (?). Glayo, longing, desire, lust, Sn. 535, 635; Dh. 411. lobho, covetousness, desire, cupidity, Sn. 367; Dh. 248. lobhanam, greed, Tha. 343. lubhana, lobhitattam, do. (?). vanam, desire, lust, Sn. 1131; Dh. 284, 344. vanatho, love, iust, Dh. 283, 284. nivesanam, clinging to, attachment, Sn. 470, 801. sango, fetter, bond, attachment, Sn. 473, 791; Dh. 397. asaitt, attachment, hanging on, clinging, ‘Sn. uae Vin. 1. 1 56; S. 1. 212. visattika, poison, desire, Sn. 333; Dh. 180. santhavam, friendship, attachment, Sn. 207, 245; Dh. 27. ussado, desire (?), Sn. 515, 783, 785. sneho, sineho, affection, lust, desire, Sn. 209, 943; Dh. 285. Gsayo, abode, intention, inclination, V.H. 1. 140. anusayo, inclination, desire, A. 1. 132; Sn. 14, 369, 545. sibbani, desire (?), Sn. 1040. kodho, anger, wrath, Sn. 1. 245, 362, 868, 928; Dh. 221-3; It. 4, r=, kopo, cae ill-will, ill-temper, Sn. 6. aghato, anger, ill- will, hatred, malice, D. 1. 3, 31; S. 1. 179. patigho, wrath, hatred, Sum. 116. doso, anger, hatred, passim. viddeso, enmity, hatred (?). dhiimo, anger (?), Sn. 460. upanaho, enmity, Sn. 116. vyapado, wish to injure, hatred, fury, Sum. 211; It. 111. anabluraddhi, anger, wrath, rage, D. 1. 3. veram, wrath, anger, hatred, sin, Sn. 150; Dh. 3-5, 201. virodho, opposition, enmity (2). Dil 32 a 498 The Philosophy of the Bhagavad-gita [cH. roso, anger (?). rosanam, anger (?). vyarosanam, anger, Sn. 148. anfanam, ignorance, It. 62. moho, fainting, ignorance, folly, passim. mohanam, ignorance, S.N. 399, 772. avija, ignorance, error, passion. It is interesting to note that three vices, covetousness, hatred and ignorance, and covetousness particularly, appear under dif- ferent names and their extirpation is again and again emphasized in diverse ways. These three, ignorance, covetousness and hatred or antipathy, are the roots of all evils. There are, of course, simpler commandments, such as not to take life, not to steal, not to commit adultery, not to tell a lie, and not to take intoxicating drinks, and of these stealing gold, drinking liquors, dishonouring one’s teacher’s bed, and killing a Brahmin are also prohibited in the Chandogya Upanisad, Vv. 10. 9-101. But, while the Chandogya only prohibits killing Brahmins, the Buddha prohibited taking the life of any living being. But all these vices, and others opposed to the atthanga- sila and dasa-kusala-kamma, are included within covetousness, ignorance and hatred. The Gita bases its ethics mainly on the necessity of getting rid of attachment and desires from which proceeds greed and frustration of which produces anger. But, while in Buddhism ignorance (avidya) is considered as the source of all evil, the Gita does not even mention the word. In the twelvefold chain of causality in Buddhism it is held that out of | ignorance (avijja) come the conformations (sankhara), out of the conformations consciousness (vififidna), out of consciousness mind and body (nama-riipa), out of mind and body come the six fields of contact (ayatana), out of the six fields of contact comes sense- contact, out of sense-contact comes feeling, out of feeling come desires (tanha), out of desires comes the holding fast to things (upadana), out of the holding fast to things comes existence (bhava), out of existence comes birth (jati), and from birth coon come old age, decay and death. If ignorance, or avid, is stopped, 1 There is another list of eightfold prohibitions called atthangasila; these are not to take life, not to take what is not given, to abstain from sex-relations, to abstain from falsehood, from drinking liquors, from eating at forbidden times, from dancing and music and from beautifying one’s body by perfumes, garlands, etc. There is also another list called dasa-kusala-kamma, such as not to take life, not to take what is not given, not to commit adultery, not to tell a lie, not to slander, not to abuse or talk foolishly, not to be covetous, malicious and sceptical. xIv] The Ethics of the Gita and the Buddhist Ethics 499 then the whole cycle stops. But, though in this causal cycle ignorance and desires are far apart, yet psychologically desires proceed immediately from ignorance, and a frustration of desires produces anger, hatred, etc. In the Gita the start is taken directly from attachment and desires (kama). The Buddhist word trsna (tanha) is seldom mentioned in the Gita; whereas the Upanisadic word kama takes its place as signifying desires. The Gita is not a philosophical work which endeavours to search deeply into the causes of attachments, nor does it seek to give any practical course of advice as to how one should get rid of attachment. The Vedanta system of thought, as interpreted by Sankara, traces the origin of the world with all its evils to ignorance or nescience (avidyd), as an indefinable principle; the Yoga traces all our phenomenal experience to five afflictions, ignorance, attachment, antipathy, egoism and self-love, and the last four to the first, which is the fountain-head of all evil afflictions. In the Gita there is no such attempt to trace attachment, etc. to some other higher principle. The word ajfdna (ignorance) is used in the Gita about six or eight times in the sense of ignorance; but this ‘‘ignorance”’ does not mean any metaphysical principle or the ultimate starting- point of a causal chain, and is used simply in the sense of false knowledge or ignorance, as opposed to true knowledge of things as they are. Thus in one place it is said that true knowledge of things is obscured by ignorance, and that this is the cause of all delusion!, Again, it is said that to those who by true knowledge (of God) destroy their own ignorance (ajfdana) true knowledge reveals the highest reality (tat param), like the sun*. In another place jfiana and ajfidna are both defined. Frdna is defined as unvacillating and abiding self-knowledge and true knowledge by which truth and reality are apprehended, and all that is different from this is called ajfana*®. Ajnana is stated elsewhere to be the result of tamas, and in two other places tamas is said to be the product of ajfana*. In another place it is said that people are blinded by ignorance (ajfana), thinking, ‘I am rich, I am an aristocrat, who else is there like me? I shall perform sacrifices make gifts and enjoy®.”” In another place ignorance is said to 1 ajfianendvrtam jnanam tena muhyanti jantavah. v.15. 2 jfanena tu tad-ajhanam yesam nasitam Gtmanah. V. 16. 3 adhyatma-jndna-nityatvam tattva-jfdnartha-darsanam etaj-jnanam iti prok- ‘tam ajhanam yad ato ’nyatha. Gita, XII. 12. ‘ SIbid | XIN. (10, 17,5 XL Lge XIV. Os Peibid. Vv. 16. 32-2 500 The Philosophy of the Bhagavad-gita [cH.