In the course of this notice we will indiscriminately make use of the words Phongyies, Talapoins, and Rahans to designate the Buddhist religious.
[54] In glancing over the latter part of Buddha’s life, the reader has seen that the less important points of discipline have been the subject of much discussion in the early days of Buddhism. Among those points of dispute and contention were the last five articles above enumerated. The second council was assembled for the purpose of settling warm disputes which distracted the Buddhist Thanga, or Assembly, and caused great disturbances. The venerable Rasa, who lived in Wethalie, a city situated on the Gunduck, north of Hajipoor, undertook a long journey, as far as Kosambi, for the express purpose of warning the religious of that country against the dangerous innovations which were introduced by a considerable body of Rahans belonging to the eastern districts of Wethalie.
The journey was certainly a long one in a western direction. The ruins of the famous city of Kosambi have been discovered at a place called Kosam, thirty miles above Allahabad, on the Jumna. They are most extensive, and at once indicate the importance that place must have had in the days of its prosperity. A broken pillar, the polished shaft of which must have measured 34 feet, is covered with inscriptions; it is one of the most important Buddhist relics. It is probably one of those pillars erected by Athoka in every part of his extensive dominions. It bears no inscription more ancient than the second and third century of the Christian era. A similar one was erected at Prayag, an ancient city mentioned by Hwen Thsang as being situated at the confluence of the Ganges and the Jumna, and finally destroyed by the gradual encroachments of the rivers. The place remained abandoned until the days of the Emperor Akhbar, who built a fort called Illahabas. The new city received the name of Allahabad from the Emperor Shah Jehan. The famous pillar called the Allahabad Pillar bears three inscriptions. The first is that of Asoka, 240 years B.C., recording his edicts for the propagation of Buddhism; the second is that of Samudra Gupta, in the second century of our era, commemorative of his extensive dominions; the third is that of Jehangir, mentioning his accession to the throne. The last re-setting up of this famous pillar took place in 1838.
[55] Among southern Buddhists, preference is given to the yellow colour for the monk’s habit. The juice extracted from the Jack-tree wood, by the process of boiling, supplies the necessary ingredient for dyeing.
[56] The writer does not think it worth repeating the reasons that induced Gaudama to lay down those several regulations. They owe their origin to the fact that some individuals contrived to be ordained though labouring under physical defects, and thereby became a sort of standing disgrace to the society. It was at the request of his father that Buddha forbade receiving to ordination sons who had not the consent of the parents, and fixed twenty years as the age requisite in him who would offer himself for the promotion to the order of Patzin. No slave, no debtor, could be ordained, because a man in such a condition does not belong to himself, and cannot dispose of his person, which to a certain extent is the property of his master and creditor.
[57] It is probable that the allusion to the red colour has a Thibetan origin. The Buddhist monks of that country have adopted the red for their dress, in preference to the yellow, which is the canonical colour of the habit of all the monks among the southern Buddhists.
[58] In this part of the regulations the elect is reminded of the primitive condition of the members of the society. In imitation of their brethren of the Brahminical persuasion, and also for the purpose of living in seclusion, the Rahans, in the beginning, were satisfied with dwelling in huts raised at the foot of some tall tree. As soon, however, as Buddhism gained footing in various countries, we see that kings, nobles, and wealthy persons vied with each other in erecting splendid houses for the use of the monks. Gaudama himself was presented by King Pimpathara at Radzagio with the splendid Weloowon monastery. In Thawattie the rich man Anatapein offered him the famous Dzetawon monastery; and the rich lady Withaka of the same country gave him, as a gift, the no less splendid mansion named Pouppayon.
General A. Cunningham has discovered the ruins of Thawattie, fifty-eight miles north of Fyzabad, on the Rapti, in a place called Sahet Mahet, situated between Akaona and Bulrampur, five miles from the former and twelve from the latter. It was the capital of King Pathenadi, situated in north Kosala. In the Legend of Buddha we have seen how that monarch was dispossessed of his throne by one of his sons, and died while on his way to the capital of Adzatathat, his son-in-law. The ruins of the renowned Dzetawon monastery have been identified by means of the information supplied by the writings of the Chinese pilgrims we have often mentioned. The monastery was distant 1200 paces from the southern gate of the city. The scarcely less famous Pouppayon monastery was erected to the east of the Dzetawon. Mounds of ruins in that very same direction leave no doubt that in their bosom the last remains of that celebrated place are entombed. It is said that Gaudama, being fifty-five years old, began to reside permanently in monasteries built for him, and that he spent, out of the last twenty-five seasons, nineteen in the Dzetawon and six in the Pouppayon. According to Hwen Thsang, the place occupied by the Dzetawon monastery was a square, having 1000 cubits on each face or side. Besides the monastery, there were two temples and two tanks within the enclosure.
[59] In treating of the precept of never touching women, it is added in the Wini that this prohibition extends to one’s own mother; and even should it happen that she fall into a ditch, her son, if a Talapoin, must not pull her out. But in case no other aid is near at hand, he may offer her his habit, or a stick, to help her out; but at the same time he is to imagine that he is only pulling out a log of wood.
[60] The Phongyies profess to have a tender compassion for the life of animals, and would not on any account allow themselves to be suspected of having contributed to the killing of an animal for the sake of feeding on his flesh. The writer has often taken a pleasure in taunting them on this account when he happened to see them eating pieces of boiled meat, by showing to them that their practice was little in accordance with their theory. They always answered that “they had not killed the animal, the flesh of which they were eating; but had merely received a piece of meat that had no life. As to the man who had deprived the animal of its life, he had certainly sinned, and would suffer for his misdeed. But that was an affair for which the perpetrator of the deed was alone answerable, and which concerned him alone.” To this answer, of a rather elastic nature, the writer jocosely replied that “if there was no eater of meat there would be no killer of animals; and that, in his opinion, if sin there was, both had a share in it.” Whereupon the yellow-dressed interlocutors invariably laughed, and feeling that they stood on insecure ground, adroitly changed the subject of conversation. There is no doubt that the Phongyies believe that it is sinful to kill animals, but at the same time they confess that it is difficult, nay, almost impossible, to live in this world without committing such a trespass.