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A Record of the Buddhist Religion, As Practised in India and the Malay Archipelago (a.d. 671–695) - Max Muller, 1896 - Complete Book

English

, No. 113, not 114, see vol, vi, fol. 13° of the older edition). RULES OF ORDINATION. 99 previous knowledge of the proceedings laid down in the Vinaya. How can he conduct himself becomingly at the time of the ceremony? This is not the way to maintain the laws. Such a man is utterly unfit to be made a resident priest. What wonder then if he become an overburdened debtor, notwithstanding his receiving gifts from others. He ought, in accordance with the teaching, to save others as well as himself. Those who go through public registration should previously ask a teacher about it. The teacher must inquire into the difficulties (that prevent registration), and if the candidates be free and fit (lit. pure and clean) the teacher should communicate to them the five precepts. Having seen the candidate’s head shaved he should invest him with the Pada (i.e. simple cloak), and at the same time communicate to him the ten precepts. When the novice has become acquainted with all the religiops rites and reached the required age’, if he be desirous of receiving full ordination, the teacher, having seen his pupil’s wish and resolve to keep the precepts, arranges for him the six Requisites (p. 54 above), and asks nine other - persons® (to take part in the ceremony). The ceremony may be held on a small terrace or within a large enclosure or within a natural boundary. In the area, mats belonging to the Sangha may be used, or each individual may use his own. Incense and flowers are prepared in an expensive way. Then the candidate is taught to pay respect three times to each priest present, or sometimes to touch the feet of every priest approaching his person. These two are the ceremonies of salutation according to the teaching of the Buddha. After this ceremony, he is instructed to seek to learn the (great) precepts (Mahasila), That done three times, the Upa- dhydya invests him before the assembly with the garments and the bowl. Then the candidate has to carry the bowl around and show it suc- cessively to every one of the priests there assembled. If it be a proper one, all the assembled priests say: ‘A good bowl ;’ if they do not say this, they incur the fault of transgressing the Law. | After this, the bowl is to be accepted by the candidate according to the Law. Then the Akarya who conducts the ceremony (Karma) imparts to him she great * These are the Disqualifications for receiving the ordination, Mahavagea I, 76, * Twenty years of age, according to Kasyapa ; Mahavagga I, 49, 5 * There should be ten teachers altogether, according to Kasyapa, a2 100 A RECORD OF BUDDHIST PRACTICES. XIX, precepts (MahAsila) either by reading the text which is held up before him or by muttering them; for both are allowed by the Buddha. One who has received the precepts is called an Upasampanna! (i.e. one who has received the Upasampada ordination). (Note by I-tsing): Upasawepanna; upa means ‘near’ and saspanna ‘full’ or ‘complete,’ signifying Nirvaza. In receiving the complete pre- cepts a person is nearer to Nirvava. This idea was vaguely expressed by the older interpretation, Vii-tso (HL. Jy. ‘ complete’). As soon as the ceremony is over, one should’ quickly measure the shadow of the sun (in order to determine the date of ordination)? and also write down the name of the season (there are five). The following is the way of measuring the shadow. Take a piece of wood about a cubit (one hasta) long, like a slender chop-stick, bending it at a point four finger-breadths from the end 5, in the shape of a carpenter's square (L_), make the shorter end of it point upwards without allowing the other (longer) part to be separated from the perpendicular part of the stick. At noon, when one lays the longer part of the stick along the ground, the shadow of the perpendicular part of it falls on the horizontal part of the stick. One measures tM falling shadow with four fingers, If the shadow extends just as long as four finger-breadths, the measure is called one Purusha (or Paurusha)4, and thus the measure- ment of time goes on by the names of so many Purushas or sometimes ~ one Purusha and a finger-breadth or half a finger-breadth, or simply one finger-breadth and so on (when not measuring quite so much as one Purusha). In this way (the differences of time) are to be measured and considered by adding and reducing of fingers. (Note by I-tsing): Purusha* is‘man;’ the reason why the shadow + See Childers, s. v. 3 See also Mahdvagga I, 74. 8 <Finger-breadth’ is in Sanskrit ‘angula;’ twelve ahgulas = one vitasti (a span, Chinese —— Ht =F), the ‘ finger-breadth, must not be confused with ‘finger-joint’ (Anguliparvan), which is also a measure. For instance, see ‘ Katur- angulam,’ SukhavativyOha, Sanskrit text, § 21, p. 43. See above, p. 28, note. * Purusha, as a measure, generally means the length of a man with his arms and fingers extended, and our nearest corresponding measure would be ‘a fathom,’ But, according to Itsing, it seems to mean four angulas (four finger-breadths= RULES OF ORDINATION. 101 that measures four finger-breadths is called ‘one man’ (Eka-purusha) is that, when the shadow of the perpendicular stick which itself measures four finger-breadths is also four finger-breadths in length on the horizontal stick, a man’s shadow falling on the ground is the same length as the real height of that man. When the shadow of the perpendicular stick is eight finger-breadths in length on the horizontal stick, the man’s shadow on the ground is just double the person's height. It is so with a man of medium size; it is not necessarily so with all persons!, Other measurements are also made by this method, : It must be mentioned (that the ordination has taken place) before the meal or after it. When the weather is cloudy, or at night, one must measure the time in a suitable way. According to the way adopted in China, one calculates the length of the shadow of the sun with a measure which points upwards, or one uses (an instrument) on which the divisions of the twelve hours are marked. What are the five seasons? It is difficult to know, unless through direct instruction, the division of the months, as it differs in different countries. In India the first is called the winter season, in which there are four months, i.e. from the 16¢h of the 9th moon to the 15th of the rst moon. The second is the spring season, in which there are also four months, i.e. from the 16th of the 1st moon to the 15th of the 5th moon. The third is the rainy season, in which there is only one month, i.e. from the 16th of the 5th moon to the 15th of the 6th moon. The one-third vitasti (span)=one-sixth hasta), and thus we must take Purusha or Paurusha, if used technically, to mean four finger-breadths. Does Saptapaurusha in Sukhavativytiha, Sanskrit text, § 21,p. 43, also mean twenty-eight ahgulas being technically used? Or seven fathoms, as Prof. Max Miller translates? The Chinese translation by Bodhirudi has ¢ seven feet’ for Sapta-paurusha. The fallen flowers are seven fathoms deep, and when ore walks on them, they sink down only four inches (angula). The great difference between seven fathoms and four inches makes us, think that in Buddhism, or at any rate in a Buddhist school, Paurusha has been used technically for four angulas as I-tsing tells us. See the Land of Bliss, Pp. 43, S. B. E.,, vol. xlix. A detail of this measure is given in MfilasarvastivAdaikasatakarman, book i. * J-tsing seems to be wrong. It must be the same with any one. 102 A RECORD OF BUDDHIST PRACTICES. XIX. fourth is the last season so called, which is only one day and night, i.e. the day and night of the 16th of the 6th moon. The fifth is the long season, i.e. from the 17th of the 6th moon to the 15th of the gth moon. This is, however, the division of the year in the Vinaya only, as ordained by the Buddha. In this system of division there is evidently a deep meaning. ; According to the usages in different districts there are three seasons, or four? or six” seasons’, which are mentioned elsewhere*. All the priests in India and in the islands of the Southern Sea, when they meet one another for the first time, ask: ‘ Venerable Sir, how many summer- retreats (Varshas) have you passed?’ He who has been questioned replies: ‘So many.’ If they have passed the same number of summer- retreats, one inquires in which season the other was ordained. If it happens to be in the same season as the other, the interlocutor further questions how many days there were left in that season. If the number of the days is still the same, the one asks whether the other was ordained before the meal or after it, on that day. If both were ordained in the same forenoon, then one inquires the length of the shadow ; and if this differs, the seniority of the two is determined. But if the shadow be the same, then there is no difference between them. In this case the order of seats is determined by the earliest arrival, or the managing priest (i.e. Karmadana) suffers them to decide the matter themselves. Those who go to India must ask® these points. This is somewhat different from “ie custom in China, where the priests simply mention the date of 1 The ordinary division of seasons is into three seasons: Winter, Spring, and Summer. K4syapa gives the corresponding months in China as follows: Winter, 15th of the 8th moon to 15th of the 12th moon; Spring, 16th of the rath to 15th of the 4th moon; Summer, 16th of the 4th to 16th of the 8th moon. 2 The four seasons are given in Hiuen Thsang, Julien, Mémoires, liv. ii, p. 63. 3 The six seasons are also given by Hiuen Thsang, Julien, Mémoires, liv. ii, p. 62. These are Sisirat (thaw, 1), Vasanta4 (spring, 2), Grishmaf (summer, 3), Varsha (rain, 4), Sarat (harvest, 5), Hemantas (winter, 6).