English
In a former age there was a certain village in which all the people, headed by Magha-m&nawaka, kept the obligations con- tinnally. Bat the chief of the district became enraged against them, as he got no bribes from them for the appeasing of quarrels. He therefore went to the royal court and accused them as thieves ; on hearing which the king commanded them to be trampled to death by elephants. Though Magha-m&nawaka heard the sen- tence, he felt no resentment, either against Lis accuser, or the king, or the elephants. In the court of the palace the elephants were turned upon the people ; but they ran away, and refused to do the villagers any harm. The king, on perceiving it, enquired if they had any charm upon their persons; and they were searched, but none was found. He then asked if they were acquainted with any mantra ; and they said that they were, but it was only this, that they had kept the obligations, built places of shelter for travellers, and given alms. The king, thus convinced of their innocence, commanded that their accuser should be given to the village as a slave, and that the elephants should also be presented as a gift. Magha-m4nawaka was afterwards bom as Sekra. In the time of An6madarsa Budha there was a poor labourer, who resided in the city of Hangsawati. Having heard Budha say bana, he thought thus :— '* All the beings in the world are en- veloped in darkness ; evil desire, anger, and ignorance, like three fires, bum within the mind ; but if I wish to cross the ocean of successive existence, what can I do ? I have no wealth by which I can give alms ; I will therefore observe the five precepts." He then received the pancha-sil from Nisabha, one of the principal disciples of Budha. At that time men lived to the age of 100,000 years ; and during the whole of this period he kept the five pre- cepts, without 6nce breaking them. When near death the dewas X. THE ETHICS OF BUDHISM. 509 came to call him with a retinne of a thousand chariots drawn by divine horses, in one of which he ascended to Tnsita. After this he was bom thirty times as a d^wa, seventy-fiye times as a chakra- warti ; he was from time to time king of Kdsala, but never of any other conntry ; and in the time of G6tama he was bom afi a rich man in the city of Wis4UL. One day reflecting that he had kept the precepts for so long a period, he became a rahat, and was ordained by Badha, on which occasion he nttered these words : — '* I have kept the precepts dnring 100,000 kalpas ; in no part of this period was I bom in hell ; I have ever been endowed with length of days, wealth, wisdom, and conrage ; all evil desire is now destroyed, and I have become a rahat ; therefore let all who wonld attain nirw4na keep the Ave precepts." The observance of sila is an aid in the practice of all other rites and in all other modes of acquiring merit. All trees, whether they be produced from seed or spontaneously, receive their increase and maturity from the earth ; the man who would build a city first clears the ground from all obstructions, and then lays out the streets and the principal squares ; the mountebank who would turn a somerset first prepares the area in which he intends to perform, by clearing away the stones, thorns, and other things that might prevent the right exhibition of his skill. In like manner, he who seeks nirw&na is assisted in the attempt, and clears the way before him, by the practice of sila. The same things have been declared by Budha : — " The wise man, by the observance of sila, continually enlarges his mental faculties and his wisdom, and is ireed from the perturbation produced by evil desire. The observance of sila is an assistance to the man who has formed the hope of nirw&na, as the earth renders benefits to all things that have life ; it is the root of all merit, and the most productive mode of acquiring merit that is practised by the all- wise.'* There is greater benefit from keeping the ata-sil during a short period than there would be from the possession of the whole sakwala filled with treasures ; as the keeping of the ten obliga- tions will ensure birth in one of the d6wa-l<5kas, where the age of the d^was is immensely great, whilst any benefit arising from riches will quickly pass away. Sila purifies whatever proceeds from the three doorways of the body, the speech, and the mind There are two things that are 510 A MANUAL OF BUDHISM. greatly allied to it, Bhame and the fear of doing wrong. As the other elements, heat, air, and water, are necessary to the f ertilis* ing of the earth ; as fche skill of the weaver is necessary for the clearing away of the refuse of the cotton ; so shame and fear are necessary to the perfecting of sila ; without them it is nothing. When these are all united there is the driving away of the per^ plexity that as an enemy lurks in the mind, and the certain reception of an adequate reward. There are three kinds of joy that arise from its observance ; he who possesses it reflects thus, '* Truly, this is to me a benefit ; truly, I have received that which is good; my sila is pure." Budha has declared that the reward of sila is the destruction of all perplexity, but that is only a small part ; its principal reward is freedom from fear, and peace. When he who possesses sila approaches kings, brahmans, householders, or priests, he is devoid of fear ; and when he comes to die, as he can reflect on the merit he has gained, he dies in the full possession of his senses ; afterwards he is either bom in a d6wa-16ka, or in the world of men. No one is able to tell how great is the reward of sila ; all the water of the five great rivers, added to that of the Ghandrabhaga, Saraswati, and other inferior rivers, is insufficient to extinguish the fire of evil desire ; but it is destroyed by sila. It is thus destroyed, even as heat is overcome by the wind that accompanies the rain-doud, or by various kinds of precious stones, or by the rays of the moon. The perfume of the flower spreads only in the direction of the wind, but the greatness of him who possesses sila spreads on all sides without exception. It is as a ladder by which to ascend to the d6wa- 16ka ; like a gateway that enters upon nirwana. The priest who is arrayed in the robe of sila has a more real splendour than the monarch in his royal garments and ornaments of gold. The word sila is the same as sisan, the head, because sila is the head, or principal method by which merit is to be obtained. When the head is severed from the body there is no life, so when sila is disregarded there is no merit. There are numerous divisions of sila, though all possess some* thing in common. There are various silas that are divided into two classes. 1. Ch&ritra-sila is the keeping of all the precepts of Budha; for its right performance, purity and persevering exertion are required. 2. W^tra-sila is the avoiding of all things that are X. THE ETHICS OF BUDHISM. 511 forbidden by Bndha ; for its right performance, purity alone is required. 1. Abhisam&ch4ra-sila is thus called on account of its being the chief sila, the practice of which leads to the fonr paths and their fruition : it is not used in reference to the eight kinds of action, three of which belong to the body, fonr to the speech, and one to the life or conduct. 2. Adibrahmachariya-sila is so called (from ^i, prior, first, ancient) because it must be produced previous to the margga-brahmachariya ; it is used in reference to the eight kinds of action, and precedes that which leads to the paths ; it must be observed without ceasing, even by the house- holder; by its observance the body, speech, and conduct become purified; it is used in reference to the obligations that appear in the TJbhatowibhanga and Khandakawatta. 1. Wirati-sila is the avoiding of such crimes as the taking of life. 2. Awirati*sila is the avoiding of such evils as proceed from the mind. 1. Nisrata-sila belongs to trishnit and drishti ; to the former belongs the wish to become Sekra; to the latter, the wish to gain nirw&na. 2. Anisrata-sila is that which aims at an earthly reward. 1. EAlapariyanta-sila is when the obligations are taken for a single day, or a night, or any definite period. 2. Ap4nak($tika- sila is the taking of the obligations for life. 1.