The gods of northern Buddhism : their history, iconography, and progressive evolution through the northern Buddhist countries / by Alice Getty; with a general introduction on Buddhism tr. from the French of J. Deniker. Illus. from the collection of Henry H. Getty.

  • Alice Getty
Date:
1914
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Licence: In copyright

Credit: The gods of northern Buddhism : their history, iconography, and progressive evolution through the northern Buddhist countries / by Alice Getty; with a general introduction on Buddhism tr. from the French of J. Deniker. Illus. from the collection of Henry H. Getty. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    wife, children, kinsfolk, concubines, and all his possessions. The legend tells the story of his journey at some length. He sets out on his horse, Kanthaka, under whose shod hooves the gods place their hands lest the noise should waken the guard. At a certain distance from his native town he discards his princely attire for rough garments of orange colour, cuts his hair, and so forth. From this moment Prince Siddhartha deserves the sacred name of Sakya-muni or Gautama. He goes forward on foot ‘ to seek salvation ’; but where is salvation to be sought ? At this period India did not lack various sects and schools, metaphysical, religious, and mystical. Among the most widely spread was the school of Sankhya, which taught the doctrine of deliverance from the cycle of renew^ed births recognized by all the creeds of India. Not less known was the school of Yoga, which was derived from the above, and principally developed the ascetic side of its doctrine. To one of the initiated of this latter school, the monk Alara (or Arada)-Ka]ama, Sakya-muni applies on reaching the town of Vai^ali. Dissatisfied, however, with the monk’s teaching, he continues his journey and comes to Eajagriha, the capital of the kingdom of Magadha, where, after refusing the offer made by King Bimbisara of a share of the throne, he retires to the mountains and follows the teaching of a celebrated Yogist, the ascetic Udraka Bamaputra. In its desire to emphasize the originality of the doctrine of Buddha, the legend describes him as equally little satisfied with the instructions of this philosopher, but we are forced to believe that as a matter of fact the young ascetic benefited by the teaching of several masters, for we find in Buddhism more than one fundamental feature of the doctrines of Sankhya, of Yoga, and of other contemporary schools (see later). (7) The legend shows us Sakya-muni, wearied at last of all these false teachers, seeking in the mortification of the body the solution of the problems which vex him. Leaving the country of Magadha, he retires with five disciples whom he has succeeded in gathering about him, to a desert place in the small district of Urubilva near Gaya. There for six years he gives himself over to the most painful mortifica- tions ; he attains to the consumption of a single grain of rice in the day, and ends by reducing himself almost to the condition of a skeleton. However, finding in asceticism no help towards the solution of the problems of metaphysics and moral philosophy, he changes his system and returns to ordinary life, a course which wins for him the contempt of his five pupils, who stigmatize him as glutton and voluptuary because he accepts a little milk and honey offered by two young village women, the sisters (according to certain versions) Nanda and Nandabala. (8) Unmoved by these reproaches, Sakya-muni goes forth to the town to-day called Bodh’-Gaya, There he seats himself at the foot of a tree and declares that, though his body may wither away in this position of meditation, he will not leave it until he has attained the ‘ Bodhi ’ or perfect knowledge.^ And one night the miracle happens ; ^akya-muni has attained the Bodhi: an inward illumination lays * There is still shown at the present time in of Bodhi ’, under the shadow of which legend de- Bodh’-Gaya a fig-tree bearing the name of ‘ The Tree dares the founder of Buddhism to have sat. C 2