DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45392#0370
Buddha & the Gospel of Buddhism
aught but a fetter and a hindrance to those who would
set themselves to righteous duties. It would perhaps be
unfair to contrast this point of view with the Brahmanical
ideal of marriage as undertaken by man and woman pre-
cisely for the joint performance of social and religious
duties; for we are here concerned with monasticism, and
Brahmanical ascetic literature can provide its own mis-
ogynistic texts to compare with those of Buddhism. The
following may serve as an example of the Thera’s songs :1
Of Candana it is said that when a child was born to him,
he left his home for the Order, and dwelt in the forest.
One day, hearing that he was engaged in meditation in
the charnel field, his wife endeavoured to win him back
to the household life. It was in vain; and this was the
Arahat’s ‘ witness ’:
In golden gear bedecked, a troop of maids
Attending in her train, bearing the babe
Upon her hip, my wife drew near to me.
I marked her coming, mother of my child.
In brave array, like snare of Mara laid.
Thereat arose in me the deeper thought:
Attention to the fact and to the cause.
The misery of it all was manifest;
Distaste, indifference, the mind possessed;
A nd so my heart was set at liberty.
O see the seemly order of the Norm !
The Threefold Wisdom have I made my own,
And all the Buddha bids me do is done.
1 The translations are quoted from the admirable versions of Mrs Rhys
Davids (Psatms °f the Brethren, 1913). The much more interesting
Nature poems of the Brethren are quoted above, p. 166 seq.
284
aught but a fetter and a hindrance to those who would
set themselves to righteous duties. It would perhaps be
unfair to contrast this point of view with the Brahmanical
ideal of marriage as undertaken by man and woman pre-
cisely for the joint performance of social and religious
duties; for we are here concerned with monasticism, and
Brahmanical ascetic literature can provide its own mis-
ogynistic texts to compare with those of Buddhism. The
following may serve as an example of the Thera’s songs :1
Of Candana it is said that when a child was born to him,
he left his home for the Order, and dwelt in the forest.
One day, hearing that he was engaged in meditation in
the charnel field, his wife endeavoured to win him back
to the household life. It was in vain; and this was the
Arahat’s ‘ witness ’:
In golden gear bedecked, a troop of maids
Attending in her train, bearing the babe
Upon her hip, my wife drew near to me.
I marked her coming, mother of my child.
In brave array, like snare of Mara laid.
Thereat arose in me the deeper thought:
Attention to the fact and to the cause.
The misery of it all was manifest;
Distaste, indifference, the mind possessed;
A nd so my heart was set at liberty.
O see the seemly order of the Norm !
The Threefold Wisdom have I made my own,
And all the Buddha bids me do is done.
1 The translations are quoted from the admirable versions of Mrs Rhys
Davids (Psatms °f the Brethren, 1913). The much more interesting
Nature poems of the Brethren are quoted above, p. 166 seq.
284