[38]We may note that in the ‘Clay-Cart,’ a Sanskṛit drama written in an early century of our era, a gambler becomes a Buddhist monk.
[39]I hear from Dr. Oldenberg that the mention in his ‘Buddha’ of twelve years as the minimum is a mistake. The age of eight mentioned by Prof. Rhys Davids as the minimum, must be a modern rule peculiar to Ceylon, if it be admissible at all.
[40]I give these quotations to show the unsuitableness of the term ‘Ordination’ applied to Pabbajjā and Upasampadā in the S. B. E.
[41]In Mahā-vagga I. 30. 4, five kinds of dwellings are named besides trees, viz. Vihāras, Aḍḍhayogas (a kind of house shaped like Garuḍa), storied dwellings (prāsāda), mansions (harmya), and caves (guhā).
[42]Comparing Western with Eastern Monachism, I may remark that the chief duty of the lay-brethren attached to the Cistercian monastery at Fountain’s Abbey was to wait upon the monks, procure food and cook it for them; and we learn from the Times of December 24, 1885, that the same duty devolved on the Carthusian lay-brothers.
[43]The Chronicles of Ceylon state that 80,000 laymen entered the paths in Kashmīr. Compare Divyāvadāna, p. 166, line 12; p. 271, 12.
[44]See Tevijja-Sutta, S. B. E. §§ 14, 15.
[45]The venerable Svāmī Ṡrī Saććidānanda Sarasvatī, in sending me a copy of the Bhagavad-gītā with a metrical commentary, says, ‘It is the best of all books on the Hindū religion, and contains the essence of all kinds of religious philosophy.’ I find in the Madras Times for October 29, 1886, the following: ‘At a meeting of the “Society for the Propagation of True Religion,” at 6 p.m. to-day, the Bhagavad-gītā will be read and explained.’
[46]XIV. 7. 2. 17. This was first pointed out by Professor A. Weber.
[47]Centenarians (Ṡatāyus, Ṡata-varsha) seem to have been rather common in India in ancient times, if we may judge by the allusions to them in Manu and other works. See Manu III. 186; II. 135, 137.