A History of Indian Literature v2.c19.s3.t1.13

v2.c19.s3.t1.13

The majority of Suttas in Book I deal with ethical questions, more especially with virtue (sīla), concentration (samādhi) and insight (paññā) which lead to the state of an arhat, the ideal of the devout life. The ethical doctrines of Buddha are frequently set up controversially as against the teachings of the Brahmans and of other masters. The very first Sutta the Brahmajäla-Sutta, the "discourse on the Brahman-net," is of first-rate importance from the point of view of the history of religion, not only for Buddhism, but for the entire religious life and thought of ancient India.¹ In connection with the rules for the moral conduct of his disciples, Buddha here enumerates in long lists all kinds of occupations, conversations, modes of life and thought of the Brahmans and ascetics, from which the Buddhist monk is to keep aloof. There are Brahmans and ascetics who accumulate riches, who delight in dances, musical entertainments, dramatic performances and games of all kinds (the ethnologist finds here an interesting enumeration of popular amusements); others, who indulge in every possible luxury; others again, who earn their livelihood by sacrifices, divination and magic (we find here a catalogue which is most instructive from the point of view of Indian folk-lore); and finally, many who yield themselves up to every imaginable speculation upon being and non-being, on the beginning and the end of the world, on the soul, its nature and its history—no less then 62 different philosophical views are here enumerated. From all these things the disciple of Buddha is to keep aloof. As a skilful fisherman catches all the fish, great and small, when he casts a fine-meshed net into a pond, so Buddha knows how to "catch" in the "Brahman-net" all sophists and philosophers, and to prove their doctrines and speculations to be worthless and obstacles to true salvation.