This is certainly one of those extraordinary epochs, when the indolent and apathetic mind of the Hindus, after centuries of a profound slumbering, seems on a sudden to awake, and, with an unexpected vigour and youthful energy, bursting forth as a terrific hurricane, brings about the most astounding revolutions, or commotions, that sweep away with irresistible power the old political and religious forms, to establish new ones on the ruins of the former. The religious zeal that seized on the Buddhists of those days, and impelled them with an unheard-of resolution to disseminate their doctrines, coupled with the astonishing success that attended their preachings, forms one of the most prominent periods in the religious history of the world.
[27] It is not easy to determine with precision in what year occurred the conversion of King Adzatathat to Buddhism. Though his father Pimpathara was a zealous Buddhist from the very beginning of the preaching of Gaudama, his son seems to have kept aloof from the religious movement that took place in the royal city of Radzagio, within the precincts of the royal palace, and continued to adhere to the tenets of the ancient creed. His faith, however, in the hitherto national religion, that is to say, Brahminism, does not appear to have been deeply seated in his soul. He was a shrewd, ambitious, and crafty politician; and from what we know of the beginning of his reign, his political principles were of the most elastic nature. Even after his conversion to Buddhism, he does not appear to have scrupled in the least to resort to the most questionable means for satisfying his ambition. The disputes between the upholders of the contending systems had, as is often the case, shaken his former convictions without imparting new ones. Perhaps he remained in that ambiguous position for a political object. He was glad to place himself at the head of the malcontents, who, on account of the king’s religious innovations, must have been numerous. Be that as it may, we see the Crown Prince of Radzagio receiving with open arms Dewadat, the enemy of Buddha, espousing his party, and looking upon him as his spiritual adviser. This occurred about ten or twelve years before Buddha’s death. With the advice of his new friend, he compassed and effected the destruction of his father three or four years afterwards, and became king in the seventh year before Phra’s Neibban. His conversion probably took place after the death of Dewadat, four or five years subsequent to that event; but it appears to have been sincere and earnest. His love for Buddha’s person was so intense that it atoned fully for the harm which, under his name and protection, Dewadat had endeavoured to inflict on his great relative.
Adzatathat reigned thirty-two years, that is to say, twenty-five years after Gaudama’s death. Under his reign, the first council was held with his consent, and a promise to make the decisions of the assembly be received with respect and strictly attended to. This is the first direct interference of the secular power in matters of a purely ecclesiastical nature. Adzatathat was, however, too prudent in his policy to persecute directly the holders of anti-Buddhistic opinions, who as yet formed the great mass of the people. He zealously supported the new creed he had adopted, but he left full liberty to the followers of the pounhas. By the advice of Kathaba, Adzatathat fixed the beginning of the religious era in the year of Buddha’s demise. It is the one which is followed by all the southern Buddhists. It was not the necessity of correcting certain errors in the calendar which induced the king to adopt that measure, since a correction had been made a hundred and forty-eight years ago by King Eetzana with the assistance of a celebrated hermit. A religious motive alone induced the king to obtemper the solicitations of Kathaba on this subject, and lay, as the point of departure for the reckoning of years, the great event of the death of the founder of religion.
The two names of Pimpathara and of his son Adzatathat are indissolubly connected with the origin of Buddhism and its spread through the Magatha country. To the first, Gaudama owed much for the extraordinary success that attended his preachings and the conversion of remarkable personages. In a country like India, the example of the king must have exerted an extraordinary influence over the courtiers and the wealthy and powerful persons. The second rendered no less important services to the cause of religion, by supporting openly the great Kathaba, the patriarch of Buddhism, and countenancing the decisions of the first council, which secured unity among the members of the assembly at the very time that evil-minded individuals endeavoured to sow the seeds of dissension among the religious, and upset the fabric which Buddha’s genius and zeal had just set up. Under the reign of those two sovereigns religion gained a firm footing in Magatha, and secured for itself an ascendancy which it retained with various successes for many centuries.
[28] We are without any direct information concerning the history of Buddhism during the twenty years that elapsed after Gaudama’s death. But we have allusions made in several places which clearly indicate that the new religion had to struggle with many difficulties before it could gain a firm footing in the places lying north of the Ganges. Though they had been the seat of Buddha’s preachings, though the people had been intimately acquainted with all his doings, it appears that the pounhas contrived to thwart to a great extent the results of his labours. At Kootheinaron, on the very spot rendered illustrious by his death, we have seen an individual rejoicing at Buddha’s demise, because he would be now at liberty to act according to his wishes. He was not a solitary instance of open insubordination, since Kathaba felt that it was necessary, in order to check the growing evil, to assemble a council three months after the death of Gaudama. This step does not appear to have produced all the good effects that were anticipated. The patriarch of the Buddhistic Church is represented to us as trembling for the safety of the relics. What could have caused this great anxiety? Doubtless there was a strong party, either within or without the assembly, which was inimical to the worship paid to the remains of Buddha, and aimed at procuring their total destruction. In the relation of Hwen-Thsang the writer has met with a passage in which mention is made of a period of time when the pure doctrine alone was held, and of a subsequent period when the worship of relics would be prevailing. It is not improbable that in this passage allusion is made to the time when the relics were buried secretly, by the care of Kathaba, in the neighbourhood of Radzagio, and remained concealed during two hundred years. The conduct of Kathaba in securing the safety of the relics reveals an important fact, viz., that there existed from the earliest days of Buddhism a great antipathy, in a fraction of the community, against keeping and venerating Buddha’s remains. It created a schism among the disciples which was never healed up, as the sequel will show.
[29] In the previous note on Neibban, the writer, having forgotten to mention the application which the Burmese make of this term to three distinct objects, supplies here the omission, in the hope that what follows may enable the reader to come nearer to the true Buddhistic meaning of Neibban.
There are, say the Buddhist doctors, three kinds of Neibban respecting the person of Gaudama—the Neibban of Kiletha, or passions; the Neibban of Khandas, or supports of the existence of a living being; and the Neibban of Datou, or of the relics.
The first took place at the foot of the gniaong or bodi-tree, when Gaudama became Buddha. Then, to make use of the language of Buddhists at that moment, the fifteen hundred passions—that is to say, all passions—were quieted, extinguished, and for ever put an end to.
The second kind of Neibban happened near the town of Kootheinaron, when the five Khandas, or the constitutive parts of Gaudama’s being, were quieted, that is to say, ceased to act, and were absolutely destroyed.
The third kind will take place at the end of the period of five thousand years, reckoning from the death of Gaudama. This is the period which he has assigned to the duration of his religion. Then all the relics of Buddha that will be still existing will be miraculously congregated on the spot where stood the tree Bodi. After having been the centre of the display of several extraordinary wonders, they will be consumed by a fire that is to come out of them. They will disappear and vanish for ever, as the flame that has consumed them.