The Positive Background of Hindu Sociology c10.s1: The Secular Aspects of Pali Texts
The Positive Background of Hindu Sociology c10.s1
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The Secular Aspects of Pali Texts
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As documents for "Hindu" political, social and economic institutions and theories the importance of the Buddhist texts in Pali (c. B.C. 600-100 B.C.) is as great as that of the Vedic. It has been the custom to treat the Buddhist literature as a rule from the viewpoint of religion. Among the exceptions may be singled out the studies by Fick (*Die Sociale Gliederung im Nordöstlichen Indien zu Buddhas Zeit*, Kiel, 1897), as well as by Mrs. C. A. Rhys Davids ("Economic Condition in Ancient India") in the *Economic Journal*, London, September 1901,¹ in which some of the anthropological, economic and political data have been accorded a scientific treatment. But otherwise modern studies like those of, say, the German scholar Dahlke² or the American scholar Warren (*Buddhism in Translations*, Harvard Oriental Series, Cambridge, Mass, 1900) coming down to an international symposium like *Buddhistic Studies* (Calcutta 1931) have served but to propagate Buddhist literature as non-secular and unmateria-listic contributions from the Indian mind.
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¹ Incorporated subsequently in T. W. Rhys Davids: *Buddhist India* (London 1903).
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² *Buddhist Essays* transl. from the German by Bhikkhu Silacara (London 1908).
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The fate of Buddhist literature has been mainly that of Vedic literature in so far as its value as a source of sociological investigation is concerned. Each has in the main been relegated to the fields of religion and superstition. And the category, "sacred books," has served to isolate both the Vedic and the Buddhist texts from contacts with the "profane," i.e., secular, materialistic, economic and political studies. The one-sided approach, or rather the segregation, has hindered the proper evaluation of Buddhist as of Vedic literature as an expression of culture.
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The secularization of indology,³ as embodied in the first edition of the present work (Vol. I., Allahabad 1914) and *The Political Institutions and Theories of the Hindus* (Leipzig 1922), has therefore the same problem to solve in regard to the Buddhist texts as to the Vedic. There is of course one important difference between the two.
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³ See also the present author's "La Démocratie hindoue" (*Séances et Travaux de l'Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques*, Paris, 1921), *Die Lebensanschauung des Inders* (Leipzig 1933), "Istituzioni Politiche e Sociali dell'antico Popolo Indiano" (*Annali di Economia*, Milan, 1930), "Die Struktur des Volkes in der sozialwissenschaftlichen Lehre der Schukraniti" (*Kölner Vierteljahrshefte für Soziologie*, XI, i, Cologne 1931). In regard to the secularization of indology see, further, C. Formichi: "Pensiero e Azione nell' India Antica" (*Rivista Italiana di Sociologia*, Rome 1914), B. K. Sarkar: *The Futurism of Young Asia* (Berlin 1922), A. Hillebrandt: *Altindische Politik* (Jena 1923), pp. 131, J. J. Meyer: *Das altindische Buch vom Welt-und Staatsleben: Kauṭilya Arthaśāstra* (Leipzig 1926), A. B. Keith: *History of Sanskrit Literature* (Oxford 1928), pp. 450-451; P. Masson-Oursel: *L'Inde Antique et la Civilisation Indienne* (Paris 1933), pp. xii, 99-101, 128-129; B. Breloer: *Kauṭaliya-Studien III: Staatsverwaltung im alten Indien* (Leipzig 1934); H. Lüders: "Indien" (*Der Orient und Wir*, Berlin, 1935, pp. 74, 87, 92); H. von Glasenapp: "Lebensbejahung und Lebensverneinung bei den indischen Denkern" (*Jahrbuch der Schopenhauer-Gesellschaft*, XXII. Band, 1935) Cf. P. Sorokin: *Contemporary Sociological Theories* (New York 1928), in which the Hindu theories are discussed along with the non-Hindu in a thoroughly humanistic manner and the similarities between the East and the West brought out, pp. 4, 98, 197, 218-220, 358, 435, 601.
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Vedic literature introduces us to the atmosphere of sacrifice and ritual, of gods and hymns. In the Buddhist literature this atmosphere is virtually absent except by way of criticism, folklore, sarcasm, etc. If sacrifices, rituals, gods and hymns constitute religion, Buddhist literature, especially as embodied in the Pali texts, i.e., the pre-*Mahāyānic* strands, is a-religious. On the other hand, the *milieu* of this Buddhist literature is chiefly moral, having bearings on the personality, on man *vis-à-vis* society, on duties, on ideals. Thus considered, Buddhist literature furnishes by all means the most appropriate data for secularized indology. Buddhist texts are nothing but documents *par excellence* of positivism. No other source can be more valuable than these Pali treatises in an investigation into the positive background of Hindu sociology.
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Be it observed *en passant* that in the present study as in *Chinese Religion Through Hindu Eyes* (Shanghai 1916) the religion of Śākyasimha is not described as Buddhism until Buddha becomes the god of a pantheon. In other words, it is for *Mahāyānism* that "Buddhism" is reserved. *Hīnayāna* is accordingly described throughout as Śākyaism.
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And here it is interesting to call attention to the remarks of a Belgian scholar.⁴ "We have enough evidence to the effect," says, he, that in spite of the horse sacrifice, the *Upaniṣads*, Buddhism, caste and the Brāhmaṇa India was in many respects a country like all other countries, very living and progressive (*un pays comme tous les autres très vivant et progressif*), charmed with arts, festivals, literature, not morose, joking, occasionally Voltairian, easily amused and very entertaining.''
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⁴ L. de la Vallée Poussin: *Indo-européens et Indo-iraniens: L'Inde jusque vers 300 av. J. C.* (Paris, 1924), p. 251.
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It is but just to be oriented to the humanistic elements in the Buddhist *milieu* because as a rule too much has been made of its alleged pessimism.