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The History of Buddhist Thought c12: Chapter IV. Early Doctrine: Yoga

The History of Buddhist Thought c12

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Chapter IV. Early Doctrine: Yoga

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WE have reason to believe that the rules of discipline go back to a very early period, and that the fundamental rules must go back to the beginnings of the Order.¹ All these rules were meant to make it possible for the individual to follow a way of life in which he could acquire the knowledge which the Master had realized for himself. The disciples held that this knowledge and the way to attain it had also been taught by the Master, and that in his utterances they possessed his teaching, the Dhamma as well as the Vinaya, which they preserved by memory. There can be no doubt that they did preserve such utterances, but they also possessed much more—discourses and commentaries of disciples, poems, legends, and stories, in which the Buddha-word might consist of not more than a single verse or sentence. It is not so easy, as in the case of the Vinaya, to distinguish what is truly original, but we possess lists and classifications which tell us what the earliest Buddhists held to be fundamental.

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¹ From what has been said it will be seen that exact dates in the chronology of the different parts of the Canon are not to be attained. We may speak of an early and even a primitive nucleus, but except in the case of the early sections of the Pātimokkha we cannot point to it. We can often distinguish the relative age of different portions. Discussion has usually turned upon the question when the Pāli Canon received its present form. This has been said to be in the time of Asoka, because in the reign of this quite historical king the legend of one school tells that he held a Council. But even if the Council is historical, we know no detail about it except that the Kathāvatthu was recited at it. As we have no reason to think that the Canon was written down at that time, the view that it then assumed its present form is little more than a pious guess. The chief reason for thinking that the Vinaya rules and the four Āgamas had taken a definite shape even before Asoka is the fundamental correspondence between the Theravāda and Sarvāstivāda Canons. But their differences also show that they must have for long have floated only in the memory of those who learnt them by heart. The forms that we know are those which they had when they were written down, and this means probably, as the Theravāda holds, in the first century B.C. But the Sarvāstivāda Canon continued to grow for centuries.

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One list which remained unchanged, and was recognized in all schools, was that of the four Truths. To know these, not to accept them by faith in another, but to realize their truth by an inner conviction, was the goal of the disciple. The list in its simplest form appears as : this is pain ; this is the cause of pain ; this is the cessation of pain ; this is the way leading to the cessation of pain.¹ We may attempt to go further and ask in what sense the formula was originally meant, but that in some sense is the fundamental teaching of Buddhism. It implies what is called a pessimistic view of life, for " this " is man's existence. It is not more pessimistic than other religions that have called life a vale of tears, and it is definitely optimistic in teaching that the cause of pain can be known, and that there is a way by which it can be removed. But in being pessimistic it is consistently so, and it requires that one who really knows that existence is pain shall devote all his efforts to stopping it, that is, to understand what the cause is, and then to remove himself from all contact with it. The ordinary man does not believe that existence is pain. Even when he despairs about ever attaining pleasurable ends, he is still under he impulse, the thirst for pleasure. Evidently such a one is incapable of admitting or understanding even the first Truth. He can only come to realize the Truths by a course of moral and intellectual training.

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¹ Digha, i, 83.

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The practice of mental training has always been a part of the Buddhist system, always, that is, so far as the documents allow us to trace it back. But it appears in the earliest documents (see above, p. 17), and there is no reason to doubt that mental training was a pre-Buddhist practice, and that some forms of it were adopted from other sects. The practice was already known in the Brahmin schools and probably in others by the name of yoga. The training consists in the " yoking " (as yoga literally means) of the mind by fixing it on one subject, and so controlling the attention that everything else is excluded.² It may become a form of self-hypnotization, and in itself has no moral character. There is a resulting state or series of states of mind as the concentration becomes more intense, and the methods of fixing the attention are described in detail by the Buddhist commentators.

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² There is nothing in the word yoga to imply a religious experience, but as it was practised by sects as a means of attaining union with God, its sense of yoking or joining could naturally develop that meaning ; but even then, as in the Bhagavadgītā, it is rather the process of attaining that union than the union itself.

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But in order to practise concentration of mind (*samādhi*) rightly, and acquire the states of trance (*jhāna*) and higher attainments (*samāpatti*), training in morality is presupposed. This leads to the threefold division of the disciple’s training into morality (*sīla*), concentration (*samādhi*), and full knowledge (*paññā*).¹ This is the scheme as we find it given repeatedly in the two most authoritative collections of the Doctrine, the first two Nikāyas or Āgamas. On these the following account is based.

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¹ *Dīgha*, i, 63 ff. This triple division with further subdivisions runs through the *Dīgha* and *Majjhima*, and is found in Sarvāstivāda works (*Mvyut*., iv, 36), showing the agreement of the schools on fundamentals. The three divisions are also called the accomplishments or attainments (*sampadā*) (1) of morality, (2) of the mind and heart, (3) of full knowledge. *Dīgha*, i, 172.

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Morality is more than the Vinaya rules, for these chiefly concern the behaviour of the monk as the member of a community, and the moral conceptions of Buddhism are admittedly the highest product of Indian ethical thought. They derive their convincing character from two doctrines which were already established in Hindu belief, karma, “action,” i.e. the retribution of all deliberately willed actions, and the doctrine of continued rebirth. The latter made the doctrine of retribution seem real, for a single existence does not always appear to bear out the teaching that whatsoever a man sows he shall also reap. But the real greatness of Buddhist morality is in the truly ethical character of its teaching. In this it was helped by its rejection of brahminical ritual and sacrifice, and its principles apply equally to the life of the layman and the ascetic. The formulation of the moral training in the *Dīgha* is no doubt a scholastic production. The question is how far it was a correct presentation of the earliest teaching will be considered later.

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A man born as a householder or in some other low family hears the doctrine of a Buddha and acquires faith in him. He reflects that it is not easy to practise *brahmacariya* ² while living in a house, and decides to go forth to a houseless life, cutting off his hair and beard, giving up any wealth he may have, and abandoning all his relatives. “ Having thus left the world he dwells restrained with the restraint of the Pātimokkha, accomplished in the practice of good conduct, and seeing the danger of even minute faults. He adopts and becomes trained in the rules of training, exercising good action in body and speech, getting his livelihood by pure means, and having four special objects in view : being accomplished in morality, having the door of his senses guarded, being endowed with mindfulness and self-possession, and being content.

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² This term, another example of one borrowed from other sects, meant originally the practice of a religious student before marriage during his study of the Vedas under a brahmin teacher, and implied strict continence. This is the special sense in which the Buddhists adopted it, for it is explained just below as “avoiding sex intercourse”, not merely avoiding violating the ordinary moral rules, which is *kāmesu micchācāro* “wrong indulgence in the passions”. But it is also used in a wider sense of the whole religious life of one who has taken these rules upon him.

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These four objects form the division of moral training. The first is expounded by giving a list of rules called the Moralities (*sīla*).¹

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¹ Dīgha, i, 63. They are divided into three sections, Small, Medium and Great, but this refers merely to their length, as the most important section containing all the positive rules is the first.

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1. He abandons the killing of living things, lays aside the use of a stick or a knife, and full of pity he dwells with compassion for the welfare of all living things.

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He abandons the taking of what is not given, takes and expects only what is given, and lives without thieving.

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He abandons incontinence and lives apart, avoiding sex intercourse.

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He abandons falsehood, and speaks the truth.

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He abandons slanderous speech, and does not tell what he has heard in one place to cause dissension elsewhere. He heals divisions and encourages friendships, delighting in concord and speaking what produces it.

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He abandons harsh speech, his speech is blameless, pleasant to the ear, reaching the heart, urbane and attractive to the multitude.

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He abandons frivolous language, speaks duly and truly and in accordance with the Dhamma and Vinaya. His speech is such as to be remembered, elegant, clear, and to the point.

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Then follow a number of rules applying especially to his life as monk.

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He abandons injuring seeds or plants.

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He eats once at one meal-time, and not at all at night, avoiding unseasonable food.

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He abandons the seeing of dancing, singing, music, and shows.

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He abandons using and adorning himself with garlands, scents, and unguents.

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He abandons the use of a high or big bed.

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He abandons the accepting of gold and silver.

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The other rules in this section specify the abandoning of various kinds of property, kinds of food (raw grain, raw meat), acting as a go-between, cheating, bribery, fraud, and various acts of violence.

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2. The second section is mainly an amplification of the frivolous practices in the first list—injury to seedlings, use of kinds of food, seeing dances and shows, games, the use of luxurious furniture, scents and unguents, frivolous tales, wrangling about the Dhamma and Vinaya, acting as intermediary and diviner.

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3. The third section gives a list of the " base arts " by which ascetics and brahmins gain a wrong living, auguries, charms, astrological, medical, and surgical practices.¹

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¹ An interesting point with regard to this list is its relation to the *Ten rules of training* (*Dasasikkhāpadāni*) which have to be learnt by the novice (*Vin.*, i, 83), nine of which occur in this list. The first four of the Ten rules are identical with the first four of the Moralities, and the last five are the same as the five rules beginning with the rule about eating, down to the non-acceptance of gold and silver. The fifth of the Ten rules forbidding intoxicants does not occur here, though it is in the *Pātimokkha*, *Pac.*, 51.

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Secondly, he keeps the door of his senses guarded. If he sees anything, he does not devote his attention to its characteristics or its details. As greed and dejection ² and evil thoughts might flow into him if he did not restrain his sense of sight, he restrains and guards it, and so of the other five senses.³ Thus, having this restraint of the senses, he feels an inner unmixed pleasure.

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² These are the two attitudes of the sensual man towards life. An eagerness to indulge in pleasures and a feeling of disgust and revulsion on discovering the vanity of sensual indulgence.

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³ The sixth sense is the inner sense of mind, the objects of which are thoughts, ideas, or any inner experience.

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Next he becomes mindful and self-possessed by performing all the ordinary actions of life with conscious reflexion upon the proper way of doing each of them, and finally he finds contentment in being satisfied with robes for his body and alms-bowl for his sustenance. He takes them with him as a bird its wings.

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It will be seen that there is no lack of confidence that the individual can come to perform all these rules. It is true that he has cut off many occasions of stumbling by renouncing household life and choosing to practise *brahmacariya* " wholly complete, wholly pure, polished as a pearl "; yet the need of some moral support did come to be seen, and was one of the causes of the development and popularity of the belief in bodhisattas, beings who devote themselves to saving their fellow men.

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But he still has to expel those hindrances (*nīvaraṇa*), tendencies of mind which prevent him from attaining clear knowledge. He begins to meditate, and practises concentration. Going to a secluded spot, in the forest, at the root of a tree, on a hill, in a mountain cave or cemetery, after having begged his alms, he sits down cross-legged and upright, setting up mindfulness before him. He purifies his mind of the five hindrances : longing for the world, malice, sloth and torpor, istraction and agitation, and doubt. This is the beginning of the concentration of mind (*samādhi*) which leads him through four stages of trance¹ (*jhāna*, Skt. *dhyāna*).

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¹ Strictly speaking the trance is the final state of which these are stages. Rhys Davids said “ there is no suggestion of trance, but rather an enhanced vitality ” (Pali Dict., s.v.), evidently taking trance for a state of coma. But the trances of meditation do not imply a decreased vitality. The inner experience becomes more intense as attention is withdrawn from outer things, and the person may appear unconscious. Once during a great thunderstorm, when two farmers and four oxen were struck, Buddha was walking in the open air, but was so absorbed that he neither saw nor heard anything of it. Yet he was “ conscious and awake ” all the time. Dīgha, ii, 131.

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When he sees in himself these five hindrances expelled, exultation rises, as he exults joy arises, as his mind feels joy his body becomes serene and feels pleasure, and as it feels pleasure his mind is concentrated. Free from the passions and evil thoughts he attains and abides in the first trance of pleasure with joy, which is accompanied by reasoning and investigation and arises from seclusion. He suffuses, fills, and permeates his body with the pleasure and joy arising from seclusion, and there is nothing in his body untouched by this pleasure and joy arising from seclusion.

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Again, with the ceasing of reasoning and investigation, in a state of internal serenity, with his mind fixed on one point, he attains and abides in the second trance of pleasure with joy produced by concentration, without reasoning and investigation. He suffuses, fills, and permeates his body with the pleasure and joy produced by concentration, and there is nothing in his body untouched by it.

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Again, with equanimity towards joy and aversion, he abides mindful and conscious, and experiences the pleasure that the noble ones call ‘dwelling with equanimity, mindful, and happy ’, and attains and abides in the third trance. He suffuses, fills, and permeates his body with pleasure, without joy, and there is nothing in his body untouched by it.

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Again, abandoning pleasure and pain, even before the disappearance of elation and depression he attains and abides in the fourth trance, which is without pain and pleasure, and with the purity of mindfulness and equanimity. He sits permeating his body with mind purified and cleansed, and there is nothing in his body untouched by it.

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The monk has now reached the stage where full knowledge (*paññā*) begins. He reflects on his body, produced by a father and mother, a collection of milk and gruel to which his consciousness is bound. He acquires the superhuman faculties mentioned in the Pātimokkha, false boasting about which involved exclusion from the Order. These include the ability to materialize a shape of himself and create a “ mind-formed ” body, which may appear in any place he wishes. By the power of *iddhi* he is able to rise in the air, duplicate himself, and other even grotesque attainments. In the legends Buddha is represented as discouraging them in his disciples. He also acquires a telepathic power of hearing distant sounds and of being able to read the minds of individuals. He can perceive whether a person's mind is passionate or calm, angry or not, etc., just as one looking into a mirror or clear water at his face can see whether he has a mole on it or not.¹

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¹ All these forms of *iddhi*, materialization, invisiblity, thought transference, and others (anæsthesia, raising the bodily temperature), are still known and practised by the lamas of Tibet, according to Mme A. David-Neel, who believes that there is a basis of truth in them. See her articles, " Les phénomènes psychiques au Thibet," in *Rev. de Paris*, 1st December, 1929, p. 566, and " La Thibet mystique ", ibid., 15th February, 1928.

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Having reached this stage he is in a position to develop the three knowledges (*vijjā*).

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(1) He directs his mind to the knowledge of his former existences. He remembers one, two, three births, and so on up to a hundred thousand through many ages (*kalpa*) of the evolution and dissolution of the universe, thinking " in that one I had such a name, clan, caste, food, feeling such pleasure and pain, and having such an end. Passing away thence I was reborn in such a place. There, too, I had such a name, etc., and such an end ". It is as clear to him as if a man were to go from his own village to another, and were to reflect on what he said and did, and how he returned.

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(2) He directs his mind to the knowledge of the passing away and rebirth of individuals. He acquires the divine eye, and can see beings passing away and being reborn in different states of existence, high or low, happy or miserable, in accordance with their deeds.

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(3) Finally, he directs his mind to the knowledge of the destruction of the *āsavas*.² He duly understands, " this is pain," " this is the cause of pain," " this is the cessation of pain," " this is the way leading to the cessation of pain." He duly understands : " these are the *āsavas*," " this is the cause of the *āsavas*," " this is the cessation of the *āsavas*," " this is the way to the destruction of the *āsavas*." When he thus knows and thus perceives, his mind is released from the *āsava* of sensual desire, from the *āsava* of (desire for) existence, and from the *āsava* of ignorance. In the released is the knowledge of his release; he understands that birth is destroyed, the religious life has been led, done is what was to be done, there is nothing further for this world.¹

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² This term literally means " flowing in ", and it still has that meaning with the Jains, who look upon karma as something material flowing into the individual. Probably when the Buddhists adopted it it had already acquired a special sense. It is unnecessary to speculate about its derivation as we know exactly what the Buddhists understood by it, i.e. sensual desire (*kāma*), desire for existence (*bhava*), and ignorance (*avijjā*), to which was later added wrong views (*diṭṭhi*, *dṛṣṭi*).

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¹ “ Il n’y a plus autre chose pour l’état d’être ici.” See La Vallée Poussin, *Le dogme et la philos. du Bouddh.*, p. 185.

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This is the state of *paññā*, the full, intuitive knowledge which brings about the state of the *arahat*,² who has done everything required to reach the goal of his training, “ than which there is no visible fruit higher and more excellent.”³ This scheme claims to form a complete whole, and there can be no doubt that it did at one time form the sum of the disciple’s training. But the possibilities of the psychological developments were not exhausted, and it will be seen how it became extended. The immediate points of interest are, what were the methods for securing the attention, and what did the disciple meditate on.

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² Skt. *arhat* “ worthy ”; the term is merely an honorific title, which was adopted by the Buddhists and applied exclusively to the perfected disciple.

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³ The six knowledges of magic power, the divine ear, knowledge of others’ thoughts, remembrance of former existences, knowledge of the passing away and rebirth of beings, and knowledge of the destruction of the āsavas are the six *abhiññā* or higher knowledges, *Mvyut.*, 14. Buddhaghosa calls the first five secular, *Vism.*, 373.

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The Buddhist tradition was that Buddha used to give each disciple a subject for meditation in accordance with his disposition and afterwards question him about it. It was certainly the practice later on for monks to receive subjects of meditation (*kammaṭṭhāna*) from their teachers. Physical means were adopted for the preliminary fixing of the attention.⁴ These are the *kasiṇas* (Skt. *kṛtsna*), devices for using physical objects, of which there were ten: earth, water, fire, wind, blue, yellow, red, white, light, and consciousness. The method of using them is described by Buddhaghosa in great detail.⁵ The monk in a secluded place makes a circle of reddish clay on the ground, or he may make it on a piece of cloth kept flat by tying four sticks to it. The circle should be one span four fingers across. He sits on a couch conveniently near and looks at the circle, repeating some suitable phrase, such as “ insatiable are lusts ”, sometimes closing his eyes until the “ sign ” arises. When he can see the sign (i.e. the after-image) with his eyes shut as well as open, the required sign has come about. He then returns and with the sign begins his meditation proper, but if it disappears he must go back and recover it. The other devices are essentially the same. The water-device is done with a bowl of water, and the fire-device is done by making a hole in a rush-mat or piece of cloth and putting it before a blazing fire so that a bright circle appears. By these devices various stages of trance are attained and the possibility of performing special kinds of exercises.

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⁴ Ang., i, 38; this passage gives the fullest list in the Scriptures of these methods and of subjects of meditation. The Sarvāstivāda lists are almost identical, *Mvyut.*, 67 ff.

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⁵ *Vism.*, ch. iii, iv. He replaces the consciousness device by the separated-space device, as it is in the Attainments (see below) that “ consciousness is infinite ” is made an object of thought. Sarvāstivāda list in *Mvyut.*, 74.

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Besides the four trances other methods are given. These are not necessarily later, but their place in the Buddhist system of training appears to be subordinate, and an attempt has been made to co-ordinate them with the trances. They are classified in accordance with Buddhist cosmology, which divides existence into three planes, the world of sense, the world of form, and the formless world up to the limit of existence (*bhavāgra*). The most important are the four (sometimes five) Attainments, which added to the trances make a series of eight or nine, as described below.

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The four Brahma-vihāras (Brahma-abodes) show direct connection with brahminical practices, as they occur in the *Yoga-sūtras* (i, 33). This does not necessarily prove borrowing on the part of the Buddhists, but the Scriptures do recognize them as a non-Buddhist practice, and give a legend of Makhādeva, an ancient king of Mithilā, who practised them and who in consequence was reborn in the Brahma-world.¹ They are, in fact, there depreciated, for though it is possible to attain trance through them, they do not tend to “aversion, absence of passion, cessation, peace, higher knowledge, enlightenment, Nirvāṇa”. They are thus described:

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¹ Majjh., ii, 76. This shows that the name Brahmā was understood literally. In Buddhist cosmology the Brahma-world belonged to the world of form above the world of sense to which the earth and the lower heavens belong. But “brahma” is also used in the sense of “excellent” and Buddhaghosa admits that sense here. *Vism.*, 320.

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“The monk abides pervading one quarter having his mind accompanied by love, likewise the second, third, and fourth. Thus above, below, around, everywhere, he abides pervading the entire world with his mind accompanied by love, with abundant, great immeasurable freedom from hatred and malice.” In the three other vihāras the monk in the same way pervades the world with compassion, sympathy, and equanimity.¹

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¹ *Dīgha*, i, 250; *Mvyut.*, 69; they are also known as the four Immeasurables (*appamaññā*) *Dīgha*, iii, 223; cf. *Vism.*, pp. 295 ff., where Buddhaghosa has some practical remarks. The monk should not start by trying to love his enemy or he will get tired. Nor is it easy to practise equanimity, perfect balance of feelings, towards a dear friend. Love for all includes love for oneself, and with love for himself as being the easiest he should start. Buddhism did not make the modern opposition between self-love and altruistic love. It is self-love that justifies love to all. See the stories of King Pasenadi, whose wife refused to say that there was anyone dearer to her than herself. *Samy.*, i, 74.

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There are two other schemes of meditation, which were also used for concentrating the attention. They are almost ignored by Buddhaghosa in his treatment of subjects for meditation, but the second is important in showing how the stages of trance came to be extended, for the trances were enlarged to eight and sometimes nine by taking stages from this scheme and making them extensions of the four trances. The first is the eight Stages of Mastery (*abhibhāyatana*) ² :

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² *Dīgha*, ii, 110; *Mvyut.*, 71.

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1. Perceiving forms (material shapes) internally he sees forms externally, limited, fair in colour or foul; having mastered them (thinking) "I know, I see", thus perceiving, this is the first stage of mastery.

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2. Perceiving forms internally he sees forms externally, unlimited, fair in colour or foul; having mastered them (thinking) "I know, I see", thus perceiving, this is the second stage.

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3. Not perceiving forms internally he sees forms externally, limited, fair in colour or foul; having mastered them (thinking) "I know, I see", thus perceiving, this is the third stage.

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In the fourth stage he sees the same forms as unlimited. In the fifth he perceives forms as blue, and in the rest he perceives them as yellow, red, and white respectively.

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The interpretation of Mr. Woodward ³ appears to explain its significance. It is to attain the form-world by cultivating the path thereto. The form-world to the Buddhist was a reality—a stage of the universe above this world of the five senses, in which material shapes existed, but not the senses of touch, smell, and taste. He was supposed actually to go there by such training, and psychologically the effect was so to concentrate his mind that he became fit for existence in that world.

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³ *Gradual Sayings*, i, 36. Rhys Davids thought that its purpose was "to get rid of the delusion that what one sees and feels is real and permanent". *Dial.*, ii, 118.

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The eight Stages of Release (*vimokkha*) are also a mode of concentration by which one became trained in stages for still higher worlds—from the formless world above the world of form up to the limit of existence. It still remains in the lists of exercises, but its original use has been modified by taking the fourth to the seventh stages and making them extensions of the four trances. These four are known as the Attainments (*samāpatti*), but they are also treated with the four trances, so that the whole becomes a series of eight. Sometimes the last release is added making nine stages.¹

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¹ *Dīgha*, ii, 111, 156; *Mvyut*., 70.

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1. Possessing form (material shape) he sees forms.
2. Not perceiving forms internally he sees forms.
3. He is intent only on the thought " it is well ".
4. Passing entirely beyond perceptions of form, with the disappearance of perceptions of resistance, not attending to perceptions of diversity, (he perceives) " space is infinite ", and attains and abides in the stage of the infinity of space.
5. Passing entirely beyond the stage of the infinity of space, (he perceives) " consciousness is infinite ", and attains and abides in the stage of the infinity of consciousness.
6. Passing entirely beyond the stage of the infinity of consciousness, (he perceives) " there is nothing ", and attains and abides in the stage of nothingness.
7. Passing entirely beyond the stage of nothingness, he attains and abides in the stage of neither consciousness nor non-consciousness.
8. Passing entirely beyond the stage of neither consciousness nor non-consciousness, he attains and abides in the stage of the cessation of perception and feeling.

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The disciple might get a particular subject of meditation from his teacher, but there is a standing list of subjects from which the teacher might choose according to the pupil's disposition.

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(1) Four contemplations (*satipaṭṭhāna*) on the body, feelings, the mind, and thoughts, in which " he dwells ardent, conscious, mindful, dispelling his greed and dejection towards the world ". This is really a complete scheme of training, as will be seen below from the scheme of the four Contemplations.

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(2) Four right efforts (*padhāna*). He exercises will, strives, puts forth energy, applies his mind—(a) to preventing the rising of evil, unprofitable thoughts; (b) to dispelling evil, unprofitable thoughts that have arisen; (c) to causing the rise of good thoughts; (d) to establishing, clearing, improving, increasing, cultivating, and completing good thoughts that have arisen.

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(3) Four bases of magic power, practised with the effort of concentration and combined respectively with will, thought, energy, and investigation.

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(4) Five faculties (*indriya*) are practised : faith, energy, mindfulness, concentration, and full knowledge. These, and also the powers, are aid to be practised in each of the four trances.

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(5) Five powers (*bala*) are practised, of the same names as the faculties. They are powers in the sense of being unshakable, says the commentary. The more elaborate analysis of the *Abhidharmakośa* vi, 70) explains that the indriyas, which in the previous stage were predominant, can as *balas* never be crushed by the passions.

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(6) Seven parts or limbs (*aṅga*) of enlightenment (*bodhi*) are practised : mindfulness, investigation of the doctrine, energy, joy (zest), calmness, concentration, equanimity.

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(7) The eightfold Path : right views, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration.¹

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¹ This eightfold division in *Majjh.*, i, 301, is equated with the triple division ; morality = right speech, action, and livelihood ; concentration = right effort, mindfulness, and concentration ; full knowledge = right views and right resolve.

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The first of these, the four Contemplations, forms the subject of an important sutta,² and it is said to be “ the one way for the purification of beings, for passing beyond grief and lamentation, for the ending of pain and misery, for the attaining of right method, and for the realizing of Nirvāṇa ”. It forms, as will be seen, an important part of the evidence for determining how the Buddhists conceived the nature and organization of the individual.

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² *Mahā-satipaṭṭhāna-sutta*. Dīgha, ii, 290.

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The monk goes to the forest or the root of a tree or an empty house, sitting cross-legged and upright, and setting up mindfulness (*sati*) before him. He begins his contemplation of the body. This portion consists of fourteen reflections, each with the same refrain. He breathes conscious of each breath. “ He practises, ‘ conscious of my whole body I will breathe in ’; he practises, ‘ conscious of my whole body I will breathe out ’; he practises, ‘ calming my bodily organism I will breathe in ’; he practises, ‘ calming my bodily organism I will breathe out ’.” He contemplates the body as something that arises, then as something that passes away, then as something that both arises and passes away. “ His mindfulness becomes established with the thought, ‘ here is the body,’ so far as required for knowledge and self-reflection. He abides independent, and grasps at nothing in the world. Even so the monk abides reflecting on the body.”

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Again the monk when walking reflects : “ I walk,” or when standing, “ I stand,” and in the same way when sitting or lying down; and he practises the same reflection for each. In all the actions of life he acts conscious of what he is doing.

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Next he reflects on his body from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head as something enclosed in skin full of various kinds of impurity. A list of thirty-two items is given to be repeated : hair, nails, teeth, etc., which recur in other places.

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He then contemplates the body as composed of the four elements, repeating the same reflections.

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Again, the monk, as if he had seen a corpse in a cemetery dead for one, two, or three days, swollen, discoloured, and decomposed, reflects, and so applies it to its own body ; then as if he had seen it eaten by crows, vultures, dogs, and other creatures ; then as reduced to a scattered collection of bones, and, lastly, as whitened bones the colour of a shell, or reduced to powder ; and in each case he reflects as before. This portion was later developed into the ten asubha, in which there are ten stages of decomposition.¹

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¹ Ang., i, 43, calls them perceptions (saññā) and makes five of them. Buddhaghosa, Vism., 110, gives ten.

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The second contemplation is on the feelings, i.e. pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral sensations. " So he abides contemplating the feelings internally, or externally, or internally and externally. He abides contemplating the feelings as things that arise, then as things that pass away, and then as things that both arise and pass away." He again establishes mindfulness with the same formula as when contemplating the body.

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Thirdly, he contemplates his states of mind (citta). He knows if it is in a state of lust or free from lust. A state of hatred or free from hatred, and so of dullness, distraction, exaltation, loftiness, concentration, or liberation. His contemplation is as before.

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Lastly, he contemplates his thoughts (dhamma). Dhamma may mean " thing " in general, but here it is used of the things in the mind, thoughts, or ideas. Mind is treated as one of the senses, the sixth internal sense, and dhammas are its object, just as sights and sounds are objects of other senses. He contemplates thoughts which are the five hindrances. He knows that he has or has not sensual desire. He knows how there is the origin of sensual desire which had not yet arisen, how there is the putting away of sensual desire which has arisen, and how there is the non-arising of sensual desire which has been put away.

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The other hindrances are treated in the same way : malice, sloth and torpor, distraction and agitation, and doubt.

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The monk has now contemplated himself as analysed into body, feelings, mind, and thoughts. What follows is said to be still contemplation on thoughts, but it is done by introducing another analysis of the individual into five parts, the well-known groups of grasping (*upādānakkhandha*), the body, feeling, perception, the aggregates, and consciousness. Evidently this classification existed when the sutta was composed. Each of the five is reflected on in the same way, its rise, its passing away, and both its rise and passing away.

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Then follows the reflection on the six internal and six external “spheres” (*āyatana*). These are the six senses or faculties of sight, hearing, touch, smell, taste, and mind, and the corresponding six objects. He reflects on each as rising and passing away. He understands any fetter that arises on account of both sense and object, how there is the arising of a fetter not arisen before, how there is the putting away of a fetter that has arisen, and how there is no arising in the future of a fetter that has been put away.

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The seven parts of enlightenment (*bojjhanga*) are then reflected on. He is aware of each, whether it is present or absent, how it arises, and how by practice it is fully developed.

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Finally, he reflects on the four noble truths, and Buddha declares that “for anyone who should practise these four contemplations for seven years, one of two fruits may be looked for : either full knowledge in this present life, or if there is a remainder leading to rebirth (*upādi*), the state of one who does not return.” Or it may be for six years, and the possible time is gradually reduced to seven days.

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This scheme, which now forms the first part of the thirty-seven qualities of enlightenment, thus appears here as an independent method of training sufficient in itself for attaining enlightenment. The fact that it contains classified psychological terms makes it probable that it is later than the scheme described above (p. 47), which proceeds by way of the four trances.

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The seven groups of the *bodhipakkhikā dhammā*, from the four Contemplations to the Eightfold Path, form a whole of thirty-seven items, and they for long remained a summary of the positive aspect of the doctrine. In the story of Buddha’s death they are said to have formed his last discourse to the monks.¹ Rhys Davids, apparently assuming that the details are historical, said, “it is of great interest to notice what are the points upon which Gotama, in this last address to his disciples, and at the solemn time when death was so near at hand, is reported to have laid such emphatic stress . . . This summary of the Buddha’s last address may fairly be taken as a summary of Buddhism, which thus appears to be simply a system of earnest self-culture and self-control.”² Its importance does not lie in the supposition that it may contain a nucleus of truth about a quite legendary period, but in the fact that it was accepted by the chief schools as constituting the essentials of the doctrine. As thus stated it gives good grounds for those scholars like La Vallée Poussin, who refuse to call it a religion. It does not deny the gods, but it recommends remembrance³ of them only in order to recognize that they have reached their respective heavens by means of such faith, morality, and other virtues as the disciple himself possesses. They are not worshipped, they are not the basis of morality, nor are they the bestowers of happiness.

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¹ Both the Pāli and Sanskrit forms of the legend contain them—Dīgha, ii, 120; Divy., 200—showing that they formed a generally recognized summary of the positive side of the Doctrine.

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² Dial., ii, 128–9. They are later known as the *bodhipakkhikā dhammā*, the qualities or principles constituting enlightenment. They remain thirty-seven in Sanskrit works, *Mvyut.*, 38–44, *Dharmasang.*, 43, *Lal.*, 8, and even in definitely Mahāyāna works, *Lotus*, 458. It is the *Netti* (112), a Pāli work which increases the number to forty-three, apparently by adding six of the perceptions (*saññā*).

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³ *Angut.*, iii, 287. This is one of the subjects of meditations called the six remembrances (*anussati*)—Buddha, the Doctrine, the Order, morality, liberality, and the gods. Four others were afterwards added—on death, the body, breathing, and calm. A set of twenty perceptions (*saññā*) also occurs in *Angut.*, i, 40. It contains five of the meditations on a corpse, but it appears to have been given up for later classifications. Buddhaghosa recognizes only one—perception of the repulsiveness of food.

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The question about the term religion is largely verbal. Buddhism, like the religions amongst which it originated, formed a positive conception of the universe. Its cosmology and theory of recurring cycles were fundamentally the same as the brahminical. Certain problems about the universe and the individual arose, which were put aside as useless but never considered unknowable or unthinkable. The Buddhist was convinced that he knew or could come to know.

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quite enough about the universe in order to understand his relation to it, and what he must do in order to attain final happiness. His conception of it gave him the peace and confidence that others claimed as the boon of their own religion, but which he found only in his own. For him it was more truly a religion than any other.

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It is notorious that Buddhism was far from being " simply a system of earnest self-culture and self-control ". Some of its presuppositions are already implied in the above scheme—a universe into any part of which a being might be born, and ruled by an inexorable law which determined him to be reborn according to his actions. It is still disputed whether original Buddhism was " nothing but vulgar magic and thaumaturgy coupled with hypnotic practices ", or whether Buddha was a " follower of some philosophic system in the genre of Patanjali's "—to take two extreme views. It is certain that the philosophic system came to exist, with theories of the nature of the individual, his career according to a law of causation, and the doctrine of his final destiny; and then with the Mahāyāna movement a transformation of all the problems through a new theory of reality and a conception of the Enlightened One which made him indistinguishable from the highest conceptions of Hindu deity.

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