intentions, the young prince said, ' Let us turn back : I must think how to accomphsh deliverance.' A last meeting put an end to his hesitation. He was driving through the northern gate, on the way to his pleasure- gardens, when lie saw a mendicant, who a])peared out- warilly calm, subdued, looking downwards, wearing with an air of dignity his religious vestment, and carrying an alms-bowl. 'Who is this man?' asked the prince. ' Sir,' replied the coachman, ' this man is one of those who are called bhikshiis, or mendicants. He has re- nounced all pleasures, all desires, and leads a life of aus- terity. He tries to conquer himself. He has become a devotee: without passion, without envy, he walks about asking for alms.' ' This is good and well said,' replied the prince. ' The life of a devotee has always been praised by the wise. It will be my refuge, and the refuge of other creatures : it will lead us to a real life, to happiness and immortality.' With these words, the young prince turned his chariot, and re-entered the city" (translated in MuUer's Essays on the Science of ReU()ion). Buddha then declared to his father and wife his determination to become a recluse, and soon after escaped from his palace in the night while the guards had fallen asleep. The religion which he es- tablished is now, after a lapse of 2000 years, professed by one third of the inhabitants of the entire globe. One king is said to have founded 84,000 monasteries for his order, that being the number of discourses which Buddha pronounced during his lifetime. The " Law" which he gave to his order is contained in the first of the three Pitakas, and was orally handed down until about B.C. 100, when it was committed to writing in the isl- and of Ceylon. It is called the Winaya Pitaka, and contams rules for everj' conceivable monastic observ- ance. It is composed of 42,250 stanzas. To alms-giv- ing Buddha attached an extraordinary importance. He declares that " there is no reward either in this world or in the next that may not be received through alms- giving." Ton centuries later, Chrysostom wrote, '"Hast thou a penny? purchase heaven. Heaven is on sale, and in the market, and yet ye mind it not! Give a crust, and take back paradise; give the least, and re- ceive the greatest; give the perishable, and receive the imperishable ; give the corruptible, and receive the in- corruptible. Alms are the redemption of the soul. . . . Alms-giving, which is able to break the chain of thy sins. . . . Alms-giving, the queen of virtues, and the readiest of all ways of getting into heaven, and the best advocated there" (comp. Taylor, Anc. Christianity). Ac- cording to the Winaya Pitaka, " The wise priest never asks for anytliing ; he disdains to beg : it is a proper object for which he carries the alms-bowl; and this is the only mode of solicitation." Celibacy, poverty, the tonsure, a particular garb, confession of sins, etc., are made compulsory. The vows, however, are not taken for life; and a monk may retire from the order if he finds it impossible to remain continent. A novitiate is provided for ; and there are " nuns" or " sisters" who live in houses by themselves. The novice usually be- gins her connection with the order in the school, where she is sent while yet quite j'oung. Foundlings were often given to the early Christian monasteries, by whom they were reared for the ascetic life. No Buddhist can attain to Nirwana unless he has served a time as an as- cetic. There are five modes of meditation specified by the Pitaka: l,Maitri; 2,Mudita; 3, Karuna ; 4, Upeksha'; 5, Asublia. We read of a monk who was so profoundly sunk in contemplation that he did not wash his feet for thirty years; so that at last the divine beings called Jer- vas could smell him a thousand miles off. The monk re- frains from severely injuring his bodj', so that he may practice as long as possible his ascetic rites. Their mode of reasoning on this subject is illustrated by the following quotation from the Milinda-prasna, a work in Pali and Cingalese : " Milbida. Do the priests respect the hoAy '>—Nagasena. 'So. — Milinda. Then why do they take so much pains to preserve it ? Do they not
by this means say, 'This is me, or mine?' — Nagasena. Were you ever wounded by an arrow in battle? — Mi- linda. Yes. — Nagasena. Was not the wound anointed ? Was it not rubbed with oil ? And was it not covered with a soft bandage ? — Milinda. Yes. — Nagasena. Was this done because you respected the wound, or took de- light in it? — Milinda. No; but that it might be healed. — Nagasena, In like manner, the priests do not preserve the body because they respect it, but that they may have the power required for the keepuig of the pre- cepts."
(2.) Persian Monachism The Zend-Avesta, written,
it is generally agreed, about B.C. 500, contains no allusion to ascetic rites ; but this fact would go no further to dis- prove the existence of monastic life among the Persians than the absence of such allusion from the N. T. would disprove the existence of Jewish monks. The Avesta is not of a historical character; and what was said about the Vedas is particularly true of it — prayers and hymns make up almost its entire contents. Zoroaster originally dwelt with the Brahminical or Sanscrit branch of the Aryan family ; and we know that monasticism was rife among them before the separation took place. It is not Ukely that they ever shook off this institution, which is as universal as religion or intemperance. We are told that there was a class of " solitaries" among them. Ac- cording to the Desatir, the Dobistan, and the old Ira- nian histories, " there was a great king of that branch of the Aryan people known as Kai-Khuero, who was a prophet and an ascetic. He had no children ; and, after a ' glorious reign of sixty years,' he abdicated in favor of a subordinate prince, also an ascetic, who, after a long reign, resigned his throne to his son Gushtasp. It was during the reign of Gushtasp that Zoroaster appeared. Gushtasp was succeeded by Bohman, his grandson." These were not kings of Persia, but they reigned at Balkh, and lived many centuries before Persia became an independent kingdom. This would place the origin of asceticism anterior to Zoroaster, who lived, the Greeks said, 5000 years before the Trojan war, or 6000 before Plato — an antiquity greater than that assigned to it by the " Nabatsean Agriculture."