English
If the person who is killed is the person who was intended to be slain, the crime of murder haa been committed ; but if it is intended to take the life of a particular person, by throwing a dart, or javelin, and the weapon kill another, it is not murder. If it is intended to take life, though not the life of any particular* person, and life be taken, it is murder. When a blow is given with the intention of taking life, whether the person who is struck die at that time or afterwards, it is murder. When a command is given to take the life of a particular person, and that person is killed, it is murder ; but if another person be killed instead, it is not murder. When a command is given to take the life of a person at a particular time, whether in the morning or in the evening, in the night or in the day, and he be killed at the time appointed, it is murder ; but if he be killed at some other time, and not at the time appointed, it is not murder. When a command is given to take the life of a person at a particular place, whether it be in the villi^, or city, or deserti on land, or on water, and he be killed at the place appointed, it is murder ; but if he be killed at some other place, and not at the place appointed, it is not murder. When a com- mand is given to take the life of a person in a particular posi- tion, whether it be walking, standing, sitting, or lying down, and he be killed whilst in the position appointed, it is murder : but if he be killed whilst in some other position, and not in the position appointed, it is not murder. When a command is given 480 A MANUAL OF BUDHISM. to take the life of a person by a particular weapon, whether it be sword or spear, and he be killed by the weapon apxx>inted, it is murder ; but if he be killed by some other weapon, and not by the weapon appointed, it is not murder. Were a command to be given to take the life of any person fifty years afterwards, or even at a period still more distant, and the person giving the command were to die a moment after it was issued, he would be guilty of murder, and as such would be born in one of the hells. The crime is not great when an ant is killed ; its magnitude increases in this progression — a lizard, a guana, a hare, a deer, a bull, a horse, and an elephant. The life of each of these animals is the same, but the skill or efEort required to destroy them is widely difEerent. Again, when we come to men, the two ex- tremes are the sceptic and the rahat (as no one can take the life of a supreme Budha). In the village of Wadhamilna, near Danta, there was an updsaka who was a husbandman. One of his oxen having strayed, he ascended a rock that he might look for it ; but whilst there he was seized by a serpent. He had a goad in his hand, and his first impulse was to kill the snake ; but he reflected that if he did so he should break the precept that forbids the taking of life. He therefore resigned himself to death, and threw the goad away ; no sooner had he done this, than the snake released him from its grasp, and he escaped. Thus, by observing the precept, his life was preserved from the most imminent danger. A certain king, who reigned at Anurddhapura, commanded an updsaka to procure him a fowl and kill it. As he refused, the king issued a decree that he should be taken to the place of executioD, where a fowl was to be put into his hand, and if he still refused to kill it, he was to be slain. The updsaka, however, said that he had never broken the precept that forbids the taking of life, and that he was willing to give his own life for the life of the fowl. With this intention he threw the fowl away un- hurt After this he was brought back to the king, and released, as he had been put to this test merely to try the sincerity of his faith. {Pujdwaliya.) In the city of Wisala there was a priest;-, who one day, on going with the alms bowl, sat down upon a chair that was covered with a cloth, by which he killed a child that was under- X. THE ETHICS OF BUDHISM. 48J neatli. About tlie same time there was a priest who received food mixed with poison into his alms-bowl, which he gave to another priest, not knowing that it was poisoned, and the priest died. Both of these priests went to Bndha, and in mach sorrow informed him of what had taken place. The sage declared, after hearing their storj, that the priest who gave the poisoned food, though it caused the death of another priest, was innocent, because he had done it unwittingly ; but that the priest who sat upon the chair, though it only caused the death of a child, was guilty, as he had not taken the proper precaution to look under the cloth, and had sat down without being invited by the house- holder. It was said by Budha, on one occasion, that the priests were not to throw themselves down (from an eminence, in order to cause their death). But on another occasion he said that he preached the bana in order that those who heard it might be released from old age, disease, decay, and death ; and declared that those were the most honourable of his disciples by whom this purpose was accomplished. The one declaration (as was observed by the king of Sdgal), appears to be contrary to the other ; but the apparent difference may be reconciled by attend- ing to the occasions on which they were delivered. There was a priest who was under the influence of passion ; and as he was unable to maintain his purity he thought it would be better to die than to continue an ascetic. He therefore threw himself from a precipice, near the rock GKjaktita ; but it happened that as he came down he fell upon a man who had come to the forest to cut bamboos, whom he killed, though he did not succeed in taking his own life. From having taken the life of another he supposed that he had become pdrdjika, or excluded from the priesthood ; but when he informed Budha of what had taken place, the sage declared that it was not so (as he had killed the man unintentionally, his intention being to take his own life). Nevertheless, though Budha declared that he delivered the bana in order that old age and decay might be overcome, he made known that the priests were not permitted, like the one above- mentioned, to throw themselves from an eminence in order that their lives may be destroyed. The members of the priesthood are like a medicine for the destruction of the disease of evil desire in all sentient beings ; like water, for the washing away 2 I 482 A MANUAL OF BUDHI8M. of its dast ; a talisman, for the giving of all treasoroB ; a sliip hj which to sail to the opposite shore of the sea of carnal desire ; the chief of a convoy of wagons, to guide across the desert of decay ; a wind, to extinguish the fire of anger and ignorance ; a shower of rain, to wash away earthly affection ; an instructor, to teach the three forms of merit, and to point out the way to nirwjna. It was, therefore, out of compassion to the world that Budha commanded the priests not to precipitate themselves (or to cause their own death). The benefit of the priesthood was also declared by the priest Kumara K^yapa to a certain brah- man. But as the repetition of existence is oonneoted with many evils, Budha delivered his discourses in order that by their means it might be overcome or destroyed. (MUinda Prasna.) The unwise man is cruel ; to all beings he is unkind, and he takes life. For this he will in the present world be in danger from sharp instruments, the horns of animals, &c. He will than be bom in hell, and after remaining there hundreds of thousands of years, he will again be bom in this world ; but if he belong to a rich or illustrious family, he will not be permitted to enjoy the privileges of his birth ; he will die whilst he is young. (^Sdleyyor Ho who keeps the precept which forbids the taking of life will be thus rewarded : — He will afterwards be bom with all his members perfect ; he will be tall and strong, and put his feet firmly to the ground when he walks ; he will have a handsome person, a soft and clear skin, and be fluent in speech ; he will have the respect of his servants and friends ; he will be coura- geous, none having the power to withstand him ; he will not die by the stratagem of another ; he will have a large retinue, good health, a robust constitution, and enjoy long life. {Pujdiwaliya,) 2.