DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.2371#0037
16 INTRODUCTION.
miseries. The mission Sakya Muni, now at the age of 35, set
before himself as the proper work of a Buddha, was to minister
to this passion for extinction; to point out a new religious path
for the deliverance of men from the endless series of transmigrations
they had been taught it was their doom to pass through, and to be the
liberator of humanity from the curse of the impermanency, sorrow,
and unreality of existence. His royal extraction, his commanding
dignity and persuasive eloquence, the gentleness of his manners,
his ardour and self-denying austerities, the high morality and the
spirit of universal kindness that pervaded his teaching, fascinated
the crowds, and he soon attracted enthusiastic disciples who caught
something of the fire of their master's enthusiasm, and who were
sent forth to propagate his new doctrines.
Caste he set aside: " My Law," said Buddha, " is a law of grace
for all." Belief in his doctrines and obedience to his precepts was,
for Sudra and Dasyu as for the Brahman, the only and the wide
door to the order of " the perfect." By the lower castes, whom
the Brahmans had first arbitrarily degraded and then superciliously
despised, such teaching would naturally be welcomed as a timely
deliverance from the spiritual, intellectual, and social despotism of
the higher classes. For them, evidently., and the despised aboriginal
tribes, it was most specially adapted, and among such it was sure
to find its widest acceptance.
Accompanied by his disciples, Gautama wandered about from
place to place, principally in Gangetic India, subsisting on the
offerings placed in his alms-bowl, or the provision afforded him by
his wealthier converts, teaching men the emptiness and vanity of
all sensible things, and pointing out the paths that led to Nirvana
or final quiescence, " the city of peace," scarcely, if at all, distin-
guished from annihilation. After 45 years thus spent, Sakya Muni
died in the north of Gorakhpur district, in Bengal. His disciples
burnt his body and collected his relics, which were distributed
among eight different cities, where they afterwards became objects
of worship.
Springing as it did from Brahmanism, of which it might be
regarded as only a modification, or one of its many sects or schools,
Buddhism did not at first separate from the older religion so as to
assume a position of hostility to it, insult its divinities, or disparage
its literature. It grew up slowly, and many of its earlier and most
miseries. The mission Sakya Muni, now at the age of 35, set
before himself as the proper work of a Buddha, was to minister
to this passion for extinction; to point out a new religious path
for the deliverance of men from the endless series of transmigrations
they had been taught it was their doom to pass through, and to be the
liberator of humanity from the curse of the impermanency, sorrow,
and unreality of existence. His royal extraction, his commanding
dignity and persuasive eloquence, the gentleness of his manners,
his ardour and self-denying austerities, the high morality and the
spirit of universal kindness that pervaded his teaching, fascinated
the crowds, and he soon attracted enthusiastic disciples who caught
something of the fire of their master's enthusiasm, and who were
sent forth to propagate his new doctrines.
Caste he set aside: " My Law," said Buddha, " is a law of grace
for all." Belief in his doctrines and obedience to his precepts was,
for Sudra and Dasyu as for the Brahman, the only and the wide
door to the order of " the perfect." By the lower castes, whom
the Brahmans had first arbitrarily degraded and then superciliously
despised, such teaching would naturally be welcomed as a timely
deliverance from the spiritual, intellectual, and social despotism of
the higher classes. For them, evidently., and the despised aboriginal
tribes, it was most specially adapted, and among such it was sure
to find its widest acceptance.
Accompanied by his disciples, Gautama wandered about from
place to place, principally in Gangetic India, subsisting on the
offerings placed in his alms-bowl, or the provision afforded him by
his wealthier converts, teaching men the emptiness and vanity of
all sensible things, and pointing out the paths that led to Nirvana
or final quiescence, " the city of peace," scarcely, if at all, distin-
guished from annihilation. After 45 years thus spent, Sakya Muni
died in the north of Gorakhpur district, in Bengal. His disciples
burnt his body and collected his relics, which were distributed
among eight different cities, where they afterwards became objects
of worship.
Springing as it did from Brahmanism, of which it might be
regarded as only a modification, or one of its many sects or schools,
Buddhism did not at first separate from the older religion so as to
assume a position of hostility to it, insult its divinities, or disparage
its literature. It grew up slowly, and many of its earlier and most