The f/rouih (fmonaslici.im must have been somewhat after this manner : First came austere practices with- out separation from society; then the devotee sought the solitude, like the Christian anchorite (q. v.). Some one who was particularly celebrated for the holiness of his life, or more inventive than others in methods of
bodily torment, soon began to gather admirers and im- itators al)out him. They came and dug their caves or built their huts in the neighborhood of his: and thus arose the second form of lite corresponding to the Chris- tian Caiiobites (q. v.). Sometimes the community was assembled under one roof; at other times, as in the The- baid, they dwelt apart. As yet, however, their mode of life was by no meaiis settled or uniform. Now was the time for a lawgiver; and the people of India found theirs in the person of Buddha (the Enlightened), who was born B.C. 624. He early manifested a love for con- templation, and was determined to the ascetic mode of life by seeing a monk who carried an alms-bowl, and whose external ai)pearance spoke of inward i>eace and composure. His father was king of Kapilawastu, who, having detected the dreamer in his son, married him, while yet quite young, to a princess, who gave birth to a child before Buddha divorced himself from her. The circumstances which led him to take this step are thus narrated by J, Bartht'lemy Saint-IIilaire {Le Buddha et sa Religion) : " One daj' when the prince, with a large retinue, was driving through the eastern gate of the city, on the way to one of his parks, he met on the road an old man, broken and" decrepit. One could see the veins and muscles over the whole of his body ; his teeth chattered; he was covered with wrinkles, bald, and hardly able to utter hollow and unmelodious sounds. He was bent on his stick, and all his limbs and joints trembled, 'Who is that man?' said the prince to his coachman, ' He is small and weak ; his flesh aiid his blood are dried up; his muscles stick to his skin; his head is white; his teeth chatter; his body is wasted away; leaning on his stick he is hardly able to walk, stumbling at every step. Is there something peculiar in his family, or is this the common lot of all created beings ?' ' Sir,' replied the coachman, ' that man is sink- ing under old age ; his senses have become obtuse, suf- fering has destroyed his strength, and he is despised by his relations. He is without support and useless; and people have abandoned him, like a dead tree in a forest. But this is not peculiar to his family. In every creat- ure youth is defeated by old age. Your father, your mother, all your relations, all your friends, will come to the same state : this is the appointed end of all creat- ures,' 'Alas!' replied the prince, 'are creatures so ig- norant, so weak, and so foolish as to be proud of the youth by which they are intoxicated, not seeing the old age which awaits them ? As for me, I go awaj'. Coachman, turn my chariot quickly. What have I — the future prey of old age — what have I to do with pleasure?' And the young prince returned to the city without going to his park. Another time the prince was driving through the southern gate to his pleasure- garden, when he perceived on the road a man suffering from illness, parched with fever, his body wasted, cov- ered with mud, without a friend, without a home, hardly able to breathe, and frightened at the sight of himself and the approach of death. Having questioned his coachman, and received from him the answer which he expected, the young prince said, 'Alas! health is but the sport of a dream, and the fear of suffering must take this frightful form. Where is the wise man who, after having seen what he is, could any longer think of joy and pleasure?' The prince turned his chariot and re- turned to the city. A third time he was driving to his pleasure-garden through the western gate, when he saw a dead body on the road, lying on a bier, and covered with a cloti). The friends stood about, cr^-ing. sobbing, tearing their hair, covering their heads with dust, strik- ing tlieir breasts, and uttering wild cries. The prince, again calling his coachman to witness this painfid scene, exclaimed, "Oh, woe to the youth which must be de- stroved by old age! Woe to health which must be de- stroyed by so many diseases ! Woe to this life, where a man remains so short a time! If there were no old age, no disease, no death; if these could be made cap- 1 live forever!' Then, betrayhig for the first time his
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