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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

They are put aside in a corner of the room, or removed outside leaves on which to place his feet, The Buddha saw this and lengthened the measurement. So the lengthened portion must always be fringed or patched, Tepresenting leaves. This must have been an important custom among the The MAlasarvastivadin’s Nishidana, Bhikshus, for it was one of the ten theses promulgated by the Vaggian Bhikshus of Vaisali that ‘a rug or mat need not be of the limited size prescribed if it had no fringe’ (see Kullavacea XHII.1.1fo\\. CF Patimelbhe pDAnuwaAo. a! 112 A RECORD OF BUDDHIS® PRACTICES? — XXII. the doors. The width of a bed is two cubits (=3 feet), and its length four cubits (= 6 feet). The mat is made of the same size, and is not heavy. The floor (of an apartment) is ‘cleansed’ by strewing over it dry cow-dung. Next, chairs, blocks of wood, small mats, &c., are arranged, Then the priests take their seats according to rank, as saul. Necessary utensils are placed on the shelves*. There is no such custom ag screening one’s bed with a cloth fos. in China). For, if a man is unfit to sleep in the same apartment with others, he should not do so. And if all are equally qualified, why should one screen oneself from others?? In using the bed whicgsig: the possession of the Brotherhood (Safigha), one should put somethiag between the body and the bed; and“it is for this purpose that the’ mat (Nishidana) is used. If one does not conform.to this rule one is liable to suffer the retribution of the ‘black back®’ We have strict injunctions’ of the Buddha on this point, and we must be very careful about it. ~ In the ten islands of the Southern Sea, as well as in the five divisions . of India (lit. the West), people do not use wooden pillows to raise the head. It is only China that has this custom. The pillow-covers are made almost the same way throughout the West. The material is silk or linen; the colour varies according to one’s own liking. It is sewed-in a square bag one cubit long and a half cubit wide. The pillow is stuffed with any suitable home products, such as wool, hemp-scraps (or waste hemp), the pollen of Typha latifolia (P'u), the catkins of the willow, cotton, reed (Ti), Tecoma grandiflora 1 Concerning the bedsteads, &c., see Kullavagga VIII, 1, 4, note. - 2 My translation follows Jiun Kasyapa’s Commentary. Suok a novice who has not yet received full ordination is unfit to sleep in the same apartment as those who have received it. . 5 One text has RB instead of mM; 3 the latter is decidedly the better reading. In the Mf@lasarvastivadaikasatakarman we read: ‘ The Buddha said that Bhikshus must not use the bed-gear belonging to the Brotherhood without putting something on it. He further pointed to a man whose dack was black, and told Ananda that that man was a priest under the former Buddha named K4syapa, but he fell into Hell on account of his using the bed-gear belonging to the Sangha without any proper thing between, and he was born goo times with lack back,’ . “RULES OF SiEEPING AND RESTING. 113 (Tao), soft léaves, dry moths, the ear-shell (Chiieh-ming, i.e. Haliotis), hemp or beans; it is ‘made high or low, according to the cold or warm Season, the object being to get comfort and: to rest one’s body. There is indeed no fear of its being hard to the touch. But a wooden pillow is rough and hard?, and it allows the wind to pass below the neck and ‘frequently causes headache. However, usages differ according to the country; I am here simply stating what I heard in a foreign land, and therefore whether one should carry out this or not must be judged by one’s own inclination, But warm things keep off cold, and hemp or ., beaps are good for the eyesight, besides very beneficial ; thus such things ’’ can be used without any mistake. In a cold country; if one expose one’s head ‘there often follows a chill (or acute febrile disease), Catarrh in winter months is due to the same cause. If one warm.the head at proper times? there should not be any trouble or disease. The saying, (in China), ‘ Head cold and feet warm,’ cannot always be relied on. Sometimes a holy image is placed in the rooms where the priests. reside, either in a window or in a niche especially made for it. When . they sit at meals, the priests screen the image with a linen curtain. They bathe it every morning, and always offer it incense and flowers, Every day at noon they sincerely make offerings of a portion of what- ever food they are going to eat. The case cpntaining the scriptures is placed on one side. At sleeping hour they retire into another room 3. There is the same custom in the islands of the Southern Sea. The following is the manner in which the priests usually worship in their . private rooms. Every monastery has its holy image, which is enshrined in a special temple. ‘ The priest must not fail to wash the image after it is constructed guring his lifetime. And it is not allowable that the simple offering of food should be made only on a fast day. If these regulations are carried out, then to have the image in the same room is 1 The text his ig, ‘whip,’ but the commentator KAsyapa happily conjectures that it should be 4iff, ‘hard ;’ my translation follows him. ? All but the Korean edition have Bes — HE instead of By Hy; my trans- lation follows the latter. * Or ‘they remove the image into a different room.’ It is certain, at any rate, that the sleeping-chamber is not the same as the room where the image is. Q > TI4 A RECORD OF BUDDHIST PRACTICES. XXII. not wrong. While the Buddha was living, His disciples lived in the same rooms, and an image represents the real person; we can live in the same rooms without any harm. This traditional custom has long been practised in India. CHAPTER XXIII. ON THE ADVANTAGE OF PROPER EXERCISE TO HEALTH. .- In India both priests and laymen are generally in the habit of taking walks, going backwards and forwards along a path, at suitable hours, and at their pleasure: they avoid noisy places. Firstly, it cures diseases, and secondly, it helps to digest food. The walking-hours are in the forenoon (before eleven o’clock) and late in the afternoon. They either go away (for a walk) from their monasteries, or stroll quietly along the corridors. If any one neglects this exercise he will suffer from ill- health, and often be troubled by a swelling of the legs, or of the stomach, a pain in the elbows or the shoulders. A phlegmatic complaint likewise, is caused by sedentary habits. If any one, on the contrary, adopts this habit of walking he will keep his body well, and thereby improve his religious merit. Therefore there are cloisters (Kankrama)' where the World-honoured used to walk, on the Vulture Peak, under the Bo-trec, in the Deer Park, at Ragagryzha, and in other holy places. They are about two cubits wide, fourteen or fifteen cubits long, and two cubits high, built with bricks ; and on the surface of each are placed fourteen or fifteen figures of an open.lotus-flower, made of lime, about two cubits” (=three feet)? in height, one foot in diameter, and marked (on the surface of each figure) with the footprint of the Sage. At each end of these walks stands a small Xaitya, equal to a man’s height, in which the holy image, i.e. the erect statue of Sdkyamuni, is sometimes placed. When any one walks towards the right round a temple or a Kaitya, he does it 1 See Mahavagga V, 1, 14, note; Xullavagga V, 14, ;-Ind. Ant, vol. x, r92. ? Read ‘two cubits’ (chou) for ‘two inches’ in the text. I-tsing describes the cloisters again in his Memoirs (see my g@ditional note at the end; also Chavannes, p. 96), and gives ‘two chou,’ i.e. three feet. This is confirmed by Hiuen Thsang (Julien, liv. viii, p. 470); he gives ‘three feet.’ WORSHIP NOT MUTUALLY DEPENDENT. II5 for the sake of religious merit ; therefore he must perform it with special reverence. But the exercise (I am now speaking of) is for the sake of taking air, and its object is to keep oneself in good health-or to cure. diseases. Formerly it was termed /sing-tao (or ‘walking on a way’); we now term it Ching-hsing (or ‘perambulating’), both having the same signification. But this suitable practice has long since been discon- tinued at Tung-ch'uan (i.e. China)! We read in the Satras: ‘ Looking at trees, they walk.’ Moreover, we see the very place (where the Buddha used to take a walk) close to the Diamond-seat (i.e. Vagrasana); only we find there no round (lotus-formed) pedestal (such as they make in China). CHAPTER XXIV. WORSHIP NOT MUTUALLY DEPENDENT. THE rules of salutation are to be practised according to the teaching of the Buddha. One who has proceeded to full ordination and whose date of ordination is earlier! can claim a salute from the juniors. The Buddha “said*: ‘There are two kinds of men who are worthy of salutation; first, the Tathagata; second, elder Bhikshus.’ This is the golden word of the Buddha ; why should we then trouble ourselves to be humble and unas- suming? When the junior sees a senior he should quietly show respect and ‘salute with the word ‘Vande’ (i.e. ‘I salute, but often ‘ Vandana’); and the senior in accepting the salutation should say ‘Arogya’ (n.‘ health’), holding his hands right in front. This word implies one’s praying that -the one addressed may zo¢ have any disease (aroga). If they do not say these words, both parties are faulty. Whether standing or sitting, the ordinary ceremony should not be changed. Those who are worthy of receiving salutation need not salute others who are inferior to themselves. Such is the rule.among the priests of the five parts of India. It is- + Lit. ‘the measurement of the shadow is before others.’ ® Jiun K4syapa thinks that this quotation is from the Vinaya-sahgraha, book xiii (Nanjio’s Catal, No.