Buddha: His Life, his Doctrine, his Order c8.s1.t5.32

c8.s1.t5.32

Another conversation,* carried on between Buddha and a Brahman, deals with the relation between the four castes and the claim to service and obedience which the Brahmans advance against all other castes, and each higher among other castes advances against the lower castes. Buddha couches his criticism in the form of a dialogue, with question and answer. “If anyone were to ask a Kshatriya (noble) as follows: ‘To whom wouldst thou render service: to him with whom, if thou doest him service, thou wilt fare worse for thy service, not better; or to him with whom, if thou doest him service, thou wilt fare better for thy service, not worse?’ The Kshatriya would, if he answers properly, answer thus: ‘Him with whom, if I did him service, I should fare worse for my service, not better, him would I not serve; but him with whom, if I did him service, I should fare better for my service, not worse, to him would I render service.’” And then the induction goes on in its stiff consecutive course: “If anyone were to ask a Brahman as follows—if anyone were to ask a Vaiçya as follows—if anyone were to ask a Çûdra as follows.” The answer is naturally every time the same, and the exposition eventually yields this result: “Where by the service which anyone renders to another, his faith increases, his virtue increases, his understanding increases, his knowledge increases, there, I say, it is that he should render him service.”