पुस्तक III

WHAT IS SADDHAMMA ? III SECTION III DHAMMA TO BE SADDHAMMA MUST PROMOTE MAITRI

§ 1. Dhamma is Saddhamma only when it Teaches that Mere Pradnya is Not Enough: it must be accompanied by Sila

1. Pradnya is necessary. But Sila is more necessary. Pradnya without Sila is dangerous.

2. Mere Pradnya is dangerous.

3. Pradnya is like a sword in the hand of a man.

4. In the hand of a man with Sila it may be used for saving a man with danger.

5. But in the hand of a man without Sila it may be used for murder.

6. That is why Sila is more important than Pradnya.

7. Pradnya is Vichar Dhamma or thinking aright. Sila is Achar Dhamma, acting aright.

8. The Buddha prescribed five basic principles regarding Sila.

9. One relating to taking life.

10. Second relating to stealing.

11. Third relating to sexual immorality.

12. Fourth relating to telling a lie.

13. Fifth relating to drink.

14. On each of these the Blessed Lord directed the people not to kill; not to steal; nor to tell a lie; nor to indulge in sex immorality and not to indulge in drinking.

15. The reason why the Buddha gave greater importance to Sila than to knowledge is obvious.

16. The use of knowledge depends upon a man’s Sila. Apart from Sila, knowledge has no value. This is what he said.

17. At another place, he said, “Sila is incomparable in this world.

18. “Sila is the beginning and the refuge, Sila is the mother of all good. It is the foremost of all good conditions. Therefore, purify your Sila.”

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§ 2. Dhamma is Saddhamma only when it Teaches that besides Pradnya and Sila what is Necessary is Karuna

1. There has been some difference of opinion on the issue as to foundation of Buddha’s Dhamma.

2. Is Pradnya alone the foundation of his religion? Is Karuna alone the foundation of his religion ?

3. The controversy had divided the followers of the Buddha into two schools. One school held that Pradnya alone is the foundation of the Buddha’s religion. The other school held that Karuna alone is the foundation of the Buddha’s religion.

4. These two schools still remain divided.

5. Both the schools seem to be wrong if judged in the light of the Buddha’s own words.

6. There is no difference of opinion that Pradnya is one of the two pillars of the Buddha’s religion.

7. The dispute is whether Karuna is also a pillar of his religion.

8. That Karuna is a pillar of his religion is beyond dispute.

9. His own words can be quoted in support of it.

10. In days gone by there was a country called Gandhara, in which was a very old mendicant afflicted with a very loathsome disease, which caused him to pollute every place he occupied.

11. Being in a certain Vihara belonging to the place, no one would come near him or help him in his distress.

12. On this Buddha came with his 500 followers, and obtaining all sorts of necessary utensils and warm water, they together visited the place where the old mendicant lay.

13. The smell in the place was so offensive that all the Bhikkus were filled with contempt for the man; but the World-honoured, causing Sakradeva to bring the warm water, then with his own hand began to

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wash the body of the mendicant and attend to his maladies.

14. Then the earth shook, and the whole place was filled with a supernatural light, so that the king and the ministers, and all the heavenly host (Devas, Nagas, etc.) flocked to the place, and paid adoration to Buddha.

15. Having done so, they all addressed the Worldhonoured, and inquired how one so highly exalted could lower himself to such offices as these, on which Buddha explained the matter thus :

16. “The purpose of Tathagata in coming into the world, is to befriend those poor and helpless and unprotected, to nourish those in bodily affliction, whether they be Samanas or men of any other religion—to help the impoverished, the orphan and the aged, and to persuade others so to do.” § 3. Dhamma is Saddhamma only when it Teaches that More than Karuna what is Necessary is Maitri

1. The Buddha did not stop with teaching Karuna.

2. Karuna is only love for human beings. Buddha went beyond and taught Maitri. Maitri is love for living beings.

3. The Buddha wanted man not to stop with Karuna but to go beyond mankind and cultivate the spirit of Maitri for all living beings.

4. This he has well explained in a Sutta when the Blessed One was staying in Shravasti.

5. Speaking about Maitri, the Blessed Lord told the almsmen:

6. “Suppose a man comes to dig the earth. Does the earth resent?”

7. “No, Lord,” the almsmen replied.

8. “Supposing a man comes with lac and colours to paint pictures in the air. Do you think he could do it?”

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9. “No, Lord.”

10. “Why?” “Because there are no dark patches in the air,” said the Bhikkus.

11. “In the same way you must not have any dark patches in your mind which are the reflections of your evil passions.”

12. “Suppose a man comes with a blazing wisp of bracken to set the River Ganges on fire. Could he do it ? ”

13. “No, Lord.”

14. “Why?” “Because the Ganges has no combustibility in its water.”

15. Concluding his address, the Blessed Lord said : “Just as the earth does not feel hurt and does not resent, just as the air does not lend to any action against it, just as the Ganges water goes on flowing without being disturbed by the fire so also you Bhikkus must bear all insults and injustices inflicted on you and continue to bear Maitri towards your offenders.

16. “So almsmen, Maitri must flow and flow for ever. Let it be your sacred obligation to keep your mind as firm as the earth, as clean as the air and as deep as the Ganges. If you do so your Maitri will not be easily disturbed, by an act however unpleasant. For all who do injury will soon be tired out.

17. “Let the ambit of your Maitri be as boundless as the world and let your thought be vast and beyond measure in which no hatred is thought of.

18. “According to my Dhamma, it is not enough to practise Karuna. It is necessary to practise Maitri.”

19. In the course of the sermon the Blessed Lord told a story to the almsmen which is worth remembering.

20. “Once upon a time there lived in Shravasti a lady named Videshika, who was reputed gentle and meek, and mild. She had a maid servant named Darkie, a bright girl, an early riser and a good worker. ‘I wonder,’ thought Darkie, ‘whether my mistress, who is so well spoken of, has really got a temper of her own which she does not show or whether she has got no temper at all ? Or do I do my work so well,

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that though she has got a temper, she does not show it? I will try her.’

21. “So next morning she got up late. ‘Darkie! Darkie! cried the mistress.’ ‘Yes, madam,’ answered the girl. ‘Why did you get up so late ?’ ‘Oh, that’s nothing, madam.’ ‘Nothing indeed, you naughty girl !’ thought the mistress, frowning with anger and displeasure.

22. “ ‘So she has got a temper, though she does not show it,” thought the maid : ‘It is because I do my work so well that she does not show it ; I will try her further.’ So she got up later next morning. ‘Darkie! Darkie!’ cried the mistress. ‘Yes, madam,’ answered the girl. ‘Why did you get up so late?’ ‘Oh that’s nothing, madam.’ ‘Nothing, indeed, you naughty girl!’ exclaimed the mistress, giving vent in words to her anger and displeasure.

23. “ ‘Yes,’ thought the maid, ‘she has got a temper though she does not show it because I do my work so well ; I will try her yet further.’ So next morning she got up later still. ‘Darkie! Darkie! cried her mistress.’ ‘ Yes, madam,’ answered the girl. ‘Why did you get up so late?’ ‘Oh, that’s nothing, madam.’

24. “ ‘Nothing indeed you naughty girl, to get up so late !’ exclaimed the mistress and in her anger and displeasure she picked up the lynch-pin and struck the girl on the head with it, drawing blood.

25. “With her broken head streaming with blood, Darkie roused the neighbourhood with shrieks: ‘See, lady, what the gentle one has done! See, lady, what the meek one has done! See, lady, what the mild one has done. What for ? Just because her only maid got up late, she was so angry and displeased that she just jumped with the lynch-pin to strike her on the head and break it.’

26. “In the result the lady Videshika got the reputation of being violent, anything but meek and mild.

27. “In like manner an almsman may be gentle and meek, and mild enough so long as nothing

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unpleasant is said against him. It is only when unpleasant things are said against him that you can test if he has Maitri—fellowship in him.”

28. Then he added, “I do not call an almsman charged with the spirit of Maitri if he shows it only to get clothes and food. Him only do I recognize as a true almsman whose Maitri springs from the doctrine.”

29. “None of the means employed to acquire religious merit, O Monks, has a sixteenth part of the value of loving kindness. Loving kindness, which is freedom of heart, absorbs them all ; it glows, it shines, it blazes forth.

30. “And in the same way, O Monks, as the light of all the stars has not a sixteenth part of the value of the moonlight, but the moonlight absorbs it and glows and shines and blazes forth ; in the same way, O Monks, none of the means employed to acquire religious merit has a sixteenth part of the value of loving kindness. Loving kindness, which is freedom of heart, absorbs them; it glows, it shines, it blazes forth,

31. “And in the same way, O Monks, as at the end of the rainy season, the sun, rising into the clear and cloudless sky, banishes all the dark spaces and glows and shines and blazes forth ; and in the same way again, as at night’s end the morning star glows and shines and blazes forth ; so, O Monks, none of the means employed to acquire religious merit has a sixteenth part of the value of loving kindness. Loving kindness, which is freedom of heart, absorbs them ; it glows, it shines, it blazes forth.”

WHAT IS SADDHAMMA ? III SECTION IV DHAMMA TO BE SADDHAMMA MUST PULL DOWN ALL SOCIAL BARRIERS

§ 1. Dhamma to be Saddhamma must break down barriers between Man and Man

1. What is an ideal society? According to the Brahmins, the Vedas have defined what is an ideal society and the Vedas being infallible, that is the only ideal society which man can accept.

2. The ideal society prescribed by the Vedas is known by the name Chaturvarna.

3. Such a society, according to the Vedas, must satisfy three conditions.

4. It must be composed of four classes, Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras.

5. The interrelations of these classes must be regulated by the principle of graded inequality. In other words, all these classes are not to be on equal level but to be one above the other, in point of status, rights and privileges.

6. The Brahmins were placed at the top ; the Kshatriyas were placed below the Brahmins but above the Vaishyas ; the Vaishyas were placed below the Kshatriyas but above the Shudras and the Shudras were placed the lowest of all.

7. The third feature of Chaturvarna was that each class must engage itself in an occupation assigned to it. The Brahmins’ occupation was to learn, teach and officiate at religious ceremonies. The Kshatriyas’ occupation was to bear arms and to fight. The occupation of the Vaishyas was trade and business. The Shudras’ occupation was to do menial service for all the three superior classes.

8. No class is to transgress and trench upon the occupation of the other classes.

9. This theory of an ideal society was upheld by the Brahmins and preached to the people.

10. The soul of this theory, it is obvious, is

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inequality. This social inequality is not the result of historical growth. Inequality is the official doctrine of Brahminism.

11. The Buddha opposed it root and branch.

12. He was the strongest opponent of caste and the earliest and staunchest upholder of equality.

13. There is no argument in favour of caste and inequality which he did not refute.

14. There were many Brahmins who challenged Buddha on this issue. But he silenced them completely.

15. The story is told in the Assalayana-Sutta that once the Brahmins persuaded one of them, by name Assalayana, to go to the Buddha and controvert his views against caste and inequality.

16. Assalayana went to the Buddha and placed before him the case in favour of the superiority of the Brahmins.

17. He said, “Brahmins maintain, Gotama, that only Brahmins form the superior class, all other classes being inferior ; that only Brahmins form the white class, all other classes being black fellows ; that purity resides in Brahmins alone and not in non-Brahmins ; and that only Brahmins are Brahma’s legitimate sons, born from his mouth, offspring of his, creations of his, and his heirs. What does Gotama say hereon ?”

18. The Buddha’s answer simply pulverized Assalayana.

19. The Buddha said : “Assalayana, are not the Brahmin wives of Brahmins known to have their periods, and to conceive, and to lie and give birth? Notwithstanding this do Brahmins really maintain all what you have said though they are themselves born of women like everybody else ?”

20. Assalayana gave no answer.

21. The Buddha went further and asked Assalayana another question.

22. “Suppose, Assalayana, a young noble consorts with a Brahmin maiden, what would be the issue ? Will it be an animal or human being ?”

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23. Again Assalayana gave no answer.

24. “As to the possibility of moral development, is it only a Brahmin and not a man of the other three classes, who in this country, can develop in his heart the love that knows no hate or ill-will ?”

25. “No. All four classes can do it,” replied Assalayana.

26. “Assalayana ! Have you ever heard,” asked the Buddha, “that in the Yona and Kamboja countries and in other adjacent countries, there are only two classes, namely, masters and slaves, and that a master can become a slave and vice versa ?”

27. “Yes, I have heard so,” replied Assalayana.

28. “If your Chaturvarna is an ideal society, why is it not universal ?”

29. On none of these points was Assalayana able to defend his theory of caste and inequality. He was completely silenced. He ended by becoming a disciple of the Buddha.

30. A Brahmin by name Vasettha had embraced the religion of the Blessed Lord. The Brahmins used to abuse him for his conversion.

31. One day he went to Buddha and disclosed to him what the Brahmins said of him.

32. Then Vasettha said : “The Brahmins, Lord, say thus : ‘Only a Brahmin is of the best social grade ; other grades are low. Only a Brahmin is of a clear complexion ; other complexions are swarthy. Only Brahmins are of pure breed ; not they that are not of the Brahmins. Only Brahmins are genuine children of Brahma, born of his mouth, offspring of Brahma, created by Brahma, heirs of Brahma.

33. “ ‘As for you, you have renounced the best rank and have gone over to that low class, to the shaven recluses, to vulgar rich, to them of swarthy skins, to the foot-born descendants. Such a course is not good, such a course is not proper, even this, that you, having forsaken that upper class, should associate with an inferior class, to wit, with shavelings, fair folks, menials, swarthy of skin, the offspring of our kinsmen’s heels.’

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34. “In these terms, Lord, do the Brahmins blame and revile me with characteristic abuse, copious, not at all stinted.”

35. “Surely, Vasettha,” said the Buddha, “the Brahmins have quite forgotton the ancient lore when they say so. On the contrary, the wives of Brahmins, like all women of other classes, are seen to be with child, bringing forth and nursing children. And yet it is these very womb-born Brahmins who say that Brahmins are genuine children of Brahma, born from his mouth ; his offspring ; his creation ; and his heirs ! By this they make a travesty of the nature of Brahma.”

36. Once the Brahmin Esukari went to the Buddha to argue with him three questions.

37. The first question he raised related to the permanent division of occupations. In defence of the system he began by saying : “I have come to ask you a question. The Brahmins say they shall serve nobody because they stand above all. Everyone else is born to serve them.

38. “Service, Gotama, is divided into four— service of Brahmin, service of noble, service of a middle-class man, or by a peasant ; while a peasant may be served only by a peasant,—for who else could ? ” What does the reverend Gotama say hereon ? ”

39. The Buddha answered him by asking a question : “Is the whole world in accord with Brahmins in their fourfold division of service ?” asked the Lord.

40. “For myself, I neither assert that all service is to be rendered nor that all service is to be refused. If the service makes a man bad and not good, it should not be rendered; but if it makes him better and not bad, then it should be rendered.

41. “This is the guiding consideration which should decide the conduct alike of nobles, of Brahmins, of middle-class men and of peasants ; each individual should refuse service which makes him bad and should accept only the service which makes him a better man.”

42. The next question raised was by Esukari.

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“Why should ancestry and lineage not have a place in determining the status of a man ?”

43. To this question the Buddha replied thus : “As against pride of ancestry, the station into which a man happens to be born determines only his designation be it noble or Brahmin or middle-class or peasant. Even as a fire is called after the material out of which it is kindled, and may thus be called either a wood-fire, or a chip-fire, or a bracken-fire, or a cowdung fire, just in the same way the noble, transcendant doctrine; I aver, is the source of true wealth for every man, birth merely determining his designation in one of the four classes.

44. “Lineage does not enter into a man’s being either good or bad : nor do good looks or wealth. For, you will find a man of noble birth who is a murderer, a thief, a fornicator, a liar, a slanderer, a man of bitter tongue, a tattler, a covetous person, a man of rancour or of wrong views, and therefore I assert that noble birth does not make a good man. Or again you will find a man of noble birth who is innocent of all these vices ; and, therefore, I assert that it is not lineage which makes a man bad.”

45. The third question which Esukari raised was with regard to the ways of earning a living assigned to each class.

46. The Brahmin Esukari said to the Lord : “Brahmins give a fourfold assignment of income, from alms, for Brahmins ; from his bow and arrows, for the noble ; from ploughing and tending cattle, for the middle class man ; and for the peasant, by the carriage of crops on the pole slung over his shoulder. If anyone of these deserts his vocation for something else, he does what he should not do, not less than a guardian who appropriates what is not his. What does the reverend Gotama say on this ?”

47. “Is the whole world in accord with this Brahmin classification ?” asked the Lord.

48. “No,” replied Esukari.

49. To Vasettha he said : “What is important is high ideals and not noble birth.

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50. “No caste ; no inequality ; no superiority ; no inferiority ; all are equal. This is what he stood for.

51. “Identify yourself with others. As they, so I. As I, so they,” so said the Buddha.

§ 2. Dhamma to be Saddhamma must Teach that Worth and not Birth is the Measure of Man

1. The theory of Chaturvarna, preached by the Brahmins, was based on birth.

2. One is a Brahmin because he is born of Brahmin parents. One is a Kshatriya because he is born of Kshatriya parents. One is a Vaishya because one is born of Vaishya parents. And one is a Shudra because one is born of Shudra parents.

3. The worth of a man according to the Brahmins was based on birth and on nothing else.

4. This theory was as repulsive to the Buddha as was the theory of Chaturvarna.

5. His doctrine was just the opposite of the doctrine of the Brahmins. It was his doctrine that worth and not birth was the measure of man.

6. The occasion on which the Buddha propounded his doctrine has its own peculiar interest.

7. Once the Blessed One was staying in Anathpindika’s Asram. One day in the forenoon he took his begging bowl and entered Shravasti for alms.

8. At that time a sacrificial fire was burning and an offering was prepared. Then the Blessed One, going for alms from house to house in Shravasti, approached the house of the Brahmin Aggika.

9. The Brahmin, seeing the Blessed One coming at a distance, became angry and said : “Stay there, O Shaveling ! There, stay, ye wretched monk ! Stay there, ye miserable outcast.”

10. When he spoke thus, the Blessed One addressed him as follows: “Do you know, O Brahmin, who an outcast is, or the things that make a person an outcast ?”

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11. “No, Gotama, I do not know who an outcast is. Nor indeed do I know what things make a man an outcast.”

12. The Lord pleaded that nothing would be lost in knowing who is an outcast. “Now that you insist on my knowing it,” the Brahmin Aggika said, “well go on and explain.”

13. The Brahmin having responded, the Blessed One spake as follows :

14. “The man who is irritable, rancorous, vicious, detractive, perverted in views, and deceitful— know ye that he is an outcast.

15. “Whosoever in this world harms living beings once-born or twice-born, in whom there is no compassion for living beings—know ye that he is an outcast.

16. “Whosoever destroys and besieges villages and hamlets, and is known as an oppressor—know ye that he is an outcast.

17. “Whether in the village or in the forest whosoever appropriates by theft what belongs to others, or what is not given—know ye that he is an outcast.

18. “Whosoever, having really taken a debt, flees, when pressed, saying, ‘There is no debt to you,’— know ye that he is an outcast.

19. “Whosoever, desiring some trifle, kills a man going alone on the road, and pillages him—know ye that he is an outcast.

20. “Whosoever for his own sake, or for the sake of others, or for the sake of wealth, utters lies when asked as a witness—know ye that he is an outcast.

21. “Whosoever by force or with consent is seen transgressing with the wives of relatives or friends— know ye that he is an outcast.

22. “Whosoever, being rich, does not support aged mother and father who have passed their youth— know ye that he is an outcast.

23. “Whosoever, when questioned about what is good, counsels what is wrong and teaches in a concealing way—know ye that he is an outcast.

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24. “No one is an outcast by birth—and no one is a Brahmin by birth.”

25. Aggika, on hearing this, felt greatly ashamed for the abuse he had hurled against the Blessed Lord. §3, Dhamma to be Saddhamma must Promote Equality between Man and Man

1. Men are born unequal.

2. Some are robust, others are weaklings.

3. Some have more intelligence, others have less or none.

4. Some have more capacity, others have less.

5. Some are well-to-do, others are poor.

6. All have to enter into what is called the struggle for existence.

7. In the struggle for existence if inequality be recognized as the rule of the game the weakest will always go to the wall.

8. Should this rule of inequality be allowed to be the rule of life ?

9. Some answer in the affirmative on the ground that it results in the survival of the fittest.

10. The question, however, is : Is the fittest the best from the point of view of society.

11. No one can give a positive answer.

12. It is because of this doubt that religion preaches equality. For equality may help the best to survive even though the best may not be the fittest.

13. What society wants is the best and not the fittest.

14. It is, therefore, the primary reason why religion upholds equality.

15. This was the viewpoint of the Buddha and it was because of this that he argued that a religion which does not preach equality is not worth having.

16. Can you respect or believe in a religion which recommends actions that bring happiness to oneself by causing sorrow to others, or happiness to others

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by causing sorrow to oneself or sorrow to both oneself and others ?

17. Is not that a better religion which promotes the happiness of others simultaneously with the happiness of oneself and tolerates no oppression.

18. These were some of the most pertinent questions which he asked the Brahmins who opposed Equality.

19. The religion of the Buddha is perfect justice springing from a man’s own meritorious disposition.

(या पानावर मजकूर नाही — ते कोरे किंवा चित्राचे पान असू शकते.)

BOOK IV Religion and Dhamma

Part I— Religion and Dhamma. Part II— How Similarities in Terminology Conceal Fundamental Difference. Part III— The Buddhist Way of Life. Part IV— His Sermons.

(या पानावर मजकूर नाही — ते कोरे किंवा चित्राचे पान असू शकते.)

PART I Religion and Dhamma

1. What is Religion? 2. How Dhamma Differs From Religion. 3. The Purpose of Religion and the Purpose of Dhamma. 4. Morality and Religion. 5. Dhamma and Morality. 6. Mere Morality is not Enough. It must be Sacred and Universal.

(या पानावर मजकूर नाही — ते कोरे किंवा चित्राचे पान असू शकते.)