History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c91.104

v7.c91.104

Buddhism insisted on the five *śīlas*¹⁵¹⁶ that were binding on all Buddhists viz. prohibition of injury to and destruction of life, of theft, of sexual impurity, of lying and of intoxicating liquors. Five more precepts (which together with the preceding five were called Daśaśiksāpadas) were added for Buddhist priests, viz. prohibition of eating at forbidden hours, of attending wordly amusements such as dancing, song, music and shows, of the use of unguents and ornaments, of the use of a large or ornamented couch and of the receiving of gold and silver. About the *śīlas* it is clear that they were adopted from the ancient Upanisadic and Dharmasūtra teachings. The Chāndogya narrates how Aśvapati, king of Kekaya, boasted before five great householders and theologians 'in my¹⁵¹⁷ kingdom there is no thief, no miser, no drunkard, no man without a fire-altar in his house, no ignorant person, no adulterer, much less an adulteress'. The same Upanisad¹⁵¹⁸ quotes an ancient verse 'a man who steals gold, who drinks liquor, who dishonours his guru's bed, who kills a brāhmaṇa—these four fall and a fifth also that associates with any one of these four.' It will be shown a little later how *ahiṁsā* was emphasized even in the Upaniṣads. Thus *ahiṁsā*, non-stealing, sexual purity, truthfulness had already been emphasized in the oldest Upaniṣads That an ascetic¹⁵¹⁹ had to give up all property and beg for keeping body and soul together is made clear by Bṛ. Up. III. 5 1 and IV. 4. 22, Jābālopaniṣad 5, Gautama III. 10–13, Vasiṣṭha X The other five precepts for priests such as not receiving gold or silver or giving up unguents, flowers, dancing, singing and music are laid down by Gautama ¹⁵²⁰ II. 19 and III. 4, Vasiṣṭha X. 6 &c. for Vedic students and ascetics Vide H. Kern (in ‘Manual of Indian Buddhism, Grundriss p. 70) who remarks that the superior morality for monks is nothing else but the rule of life for the *dvija* in the 4th *āsrama*, when he is a *yati* and all the details were taken from the Dharma-sūtras and Dharmaśāstras.