(3.) Chinese llonachism. — An examination of the Chou-King, the sacred book par excellence of China, is without fruit for our purpose. It is a significant fact, however, that the word "priest" is written in Chinese "Cha-men," or "Sang-men," which mean, re- spectively, one who exerts himself,* or one who re- strains himself. The Chou-King was transcribed by Confucius (Life and Teachinr/s of Confucius, by James Legge, D.D. [Phila. 1867]) about B.C. 480, and to him we owe its preservation. It is only one out of a large number of books upon religious topics which must have existed in his time. Lao-Kiiin, who lived several gen- erations before Confucius, was a great ascetic, advocated perfect freedom from passion, and passed much of his time in the mountains. Of Confucius, it is known that he taught no new doctrines, but insisted upon a more faithful observation of the ancient law. He flourished in the 5th century B.C. (551-479). At nineteen years of age he divorced himself from his wife, after she had given birth to a son, to devote himself to study and meditation; and his last days were passed in a quiet valley, where he retired with a few of his followers. He fasted quite frequently, and advocated many other monkish observances: such as retirement, contempla- tion, and agricultural employment. (See Schott, Werhe des chinesischen Weisen Kong-Fu-DsU [ Halle, 1826 ]. Comp. also Meng Tseu, ed. Stanislaus Julien, lib. i, c. 5, par. 29 ; c. 6, p. 29 ; and article Confucius.) Mencius, an apostle of Confucius, who flourished in the 3d cen- tury B.C., says, " Though a man may be wicked, yet, if he adjust his thoughts, fast, and bathe, he may sacri-
* There is a remarkable similarity between the deriva- tion of this word and that of ascetic (from uaiieiv, to exer- cise, or practice gymnastics).
MONASTICISM
464
MOXASTICISM
fice to God." (Compare Johnson, Monks before Christ, their Spirit and thtir J/islor;/ [ Host. 1870, 18mo], ch. ii.) (4.) Greek Monachlwi. — The Hellenic heathenism was less serious and contemplative, indeed, than the Orien- tal. The first monastic society of which we have any knowledf^e are the J'l/t/iafjoreans (q. v.), who, no doubt, are an importation from Ej^yptian or even from Indian soil (see Clement Alexandrinus, Stroinat. lib. iii ; Ueber- weg, Jlist. Philos. i, 42 sq.). " The mysteries of Bac- chus and Ceres were copied after those of Osiris and Isis. These latter, in some respects, resembled Frec- masonrj- more than they did monastic orders. They forbade, however, all sensuous enjoyment, enjoined con- templation, loni^-protracted silence, etc. INIoreover, it is probable that l'ythaij;oras found here many of those ascetic observances which he after^vards introduced into his own order" (Johnson, Monks before Chi'igi, p. 87). Bunsen says that the rules for the conduct of Egyptian priests, as described by Chaeremon and preserved by Porphyry, remind one of the Laws of Manu and the A^e- das; so that if the conjectures of this Egyptologist be accepted, we are forced to conclude that Hellenic mo- nasticism came from the Hindus through the Egyp- tians, unless the theory be accepted that the Greeks borrowed it directly from the Indians during their in- tercourse in the 5th and Gth centuries B.C. But what- ever our opinion on this point, certain it is that more than 2000 years before Ignatius Loyola assembled the nucleus of his great " society" in a subterranean chapel in the city of Paris there was founded at Crotona, in Greece, an order of monks whose principles, constitu- tion, aims, method, and final end entitle them to be called the " Pagan Jesuits" (see Zcller, Pi/t/idf/oi-as ?/. die Piitha()ora-Su()a. in liis Vortrajje ri. Ablinndhnififn [Leips. 1«'g.5]; Johnson, J/W.-.v b,fi>re C/nisf, p.H7,8K). The f'Xtinotion of Pythagoroanism (soon after 15.C. 400) by no means did away with asceticism in Greece. The philosophical mantle of the Pythagoreans fell upon a new school, among whom Epimenides and Plato are usually reckoned; and the Platonic view of matter and of Ijody not only lies at the bottom of the Gnostic and ]\Ianicha?an asceticism, but had much to do with the ethics of Origen and the Alexandrian school.
(5.) Jeu-ish Monachism. — The origin and extent of Jewish monasticism is shrouded in much uncertainty and doubt. Yet it is clearly manifest from the records that have come down to us that Judaism was not altogether alien to asceticism. As far back as the days of Moses, while the Israelites were yet in the wilderness, a special law was made for those who should seek an ascetic life ; and the Nazarites (q. v.), though they did not sepa- rate themselves from the other people, yet did set themselves ajmrt for special divine worship (Xumb. vi, 1-21 ; Judg. xiii, 5; 1 Sam. i, 11 ; Luke i, 15). Later, in Palestine, the Jews had tlieir Essenes (q. v.), and in Egypt their Therapeutw (q. v.), though it must be con- fessed that these betray the intrusion of foreign ele- ments into the Mosaic religion, and so receive no men- tion in the New Test., unless the allusion in Matt, xix, 12 refers to these ascetics, which i> Ik Hex ccl. however, by only a few Biblical scholars. (Sec, In >i(lr> iho works quoted in the article I'^sskni-.s, Zillcr, ^ / /- r/,-/'/itl<>.i. vol. iii, pt, ii, p. .589; and Tlicdh.Jiihrb. 185t), iii, 358; Kcim, Jhr Geschichtliche ChriMiis \ Zurich, 1805], p. 15; Lan- gen, Das Judenthum in 1'ulu.stina zur Zeit Cliristi [Freib. 18GG], p. 18G.)