Buddha: His Life, his Doctrine, his Order c8.s1.t5.14

c8.s1.t5.14

The Vedic literature gives us a picture of the forensic style of dogmatic teaching and debate, which had established itself long before Buddha's time in the Brahmanical schools and on the sacrificial ground. The word which is to convey holy things, needs a fitting garb: the setting of spiritual discourse bears a solemn, sacred character, the stateliness of which soon changes to ponderous gravity. The personal bearing of the king stands as successfully. "Beside thy relatives and the non-relatives, is there any other man, O great king?" "Myself, sire." "Well done, great king, a man is neither relative nor non-relative to himself." "Thereupon the Elder said," the narrative proceeds, "that the king is clever and that he will be able to understand the doctrine, and he propounded to him the parable of the elephant's foot."—*Buddhaghosa, in the Vinaya Pitaka, vol. iii, p. 324.*