ANCIENT INDIAN SECTS AND ORDERS MENTIONED BY BUDDHIST WRITERS

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ANCIENT INDIAN SECTS AND ORDERS MENTIONED BY BUDDHIST WRITERS

BENDALL. C.

The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society

1901

pp.122--127

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p.122

In the volume for 1898 of our Journal (p. 197)

Professor Rhys Davids calls attention to the Indian

Sects or Schools in the time of the Buddha as

enumerated in a passage of the Anguttara-nikaya (pt.

iii, p. 276, ed. P.T.S.). It is hardly necessary to

point out the interest of the investigation; for

scholars at least have for some time past recognized

the fact that Buddhism, though raised to the dignity

of an oecumenical religion, doubtless owing to the

grenius of its founder, was nevertheless only one of

a number of schools of more or less free and

independent thought in a country too often regarded

as the mere domain of a monotonous sacerdotalism.

Professor Davids has reverted to the subject in his

version of the Dighanikaya ("Dialogues," p. 220), and

quite recently Monsieur Barth has pointed out that

further details "d'un pittoresque acheve" await the

readers of the Majjhima and other Pali nikayas.(1)

Leaving these to scholars more specially engaged on

Pali literature, I now subjoin two passages from the

literature of other schools of Buddhist thought

written in that form of speech, variously known as

the Gatha dialect and "le sanskrit

-------------------------

1 Bulletin iii, Bouddhisme, P.33 (R'ev. de

l'histoire des Religions, 1900).

p.123

mixte," in use during the early centuries of our

era, when Pali canonical literature, previously

codified, was apparently taking its present literary

and dialectic shape and when the great commentaries

on it were composed.

The first extract is from the

'Ratnolka-dharani',(1)which is not, as its name might

imply, a mere charm,(2) but a work of considerable

dimensions, inculcating inter alia the characteristic

'Mahyana' doctrine that the Bodhisat should not seek

for immediate emancipation, but should "for the good

of all creatures" be willing to be born again in

various worldly and otherwise undesirable stations of

life.

'loki alipta jale yatha padmam,

priti-prasadakara vicaranti

"In the world unsmirched like the lily in the water,

winning grace and favour is their conversation."

After enumerating various professions and callings

in which they may be "renowned in the world," the author

mentions the rsis and ascetics. Then occur the

following lines:--

'te carakah parivrajaka tirthyah

tapasa-Gotamamonacaranam

nagna acelagurusramananam

tirthika acariya hi bhavanti

te tu ajivika dharmacaranam

uttarikana auuttarikanam

dirghajatana kumaravratanam

tesv [api] acariya hi bhavanti

soryanurartaka-pancatapanam

kukkuragovratika mrgacarya 10

carika tirthya dasa tritayanam

tesv api acariya hi bhavanti

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1 Quoted in the 'Cikshasamuccaya', ff. 149a sqq.

The 'Cikshas'. was first translated into Tibetan by

three 'pandits', all of whom flourished under a Tibetan

king who died A.D. 835.

2 Another parallel case is the 'dharani-literature'

forming the basis of the notice of non-Baddhistic

sects by 'Remusat' at pp. 145 sqq. of his version of

Fa-Hian (English edition). Mr. Watters tells me that

Nos. 84 and 422 (Mahadharmolka-dharani) in Nanjio's

form further cases in point.

p.124

devata jnana pravesa ratanam

tirth-'upadarsana desacaranam

mulaphalambucara api bhutva 15

dharma acintiya te paramagrah

utkutasthayina-ekacaranam

kantakabhasmatrnassayananam

ye musale saya yukti vihari

tesv api acariya hi bhavanti 20

"They become sectaries, Caraka or 'Parivrajaka';

for the observers of the vow of silence of Gotama the

ascetic or for the 'sramanas' of the naked, unclothed

Guru. They become sectarian leaders. Or they may

belong to such as observe the 'Ajivika-system',

[either](1) those who have or those who have not a

higher [aim?], those with long coils of hair, those

who took their vow as youths, amongst these they

become leaders. Among ascetics who endure the five

fires, turning to the sun [and the other four, there

are] those who have the dog- and cattle-vows, and

those who act as beasts of the chase, followers of

some of the thirty observances (?) and sects, amongst

these, too, they become leaders. For such as delight

in initiation into the knowledge of the deity, for

such as wander through [many] countries to observe

closely the sects, they live on roots, fruits, and

water, and at last become masters in systems beyond

thought. For those who remain squatting on their

heels, or who wander alone, whose bed is on thorns,

ashes, or grass, who rest on a pestle-pole and so

live, amongst them, too, they become leaders."

It may be first observed the list is partly

traditional. "Carakas, Parivrajakas, Ajivakas, and

Nirgranthas" head a list at the beginning of ch. 13

of the Saddharma- pundarika, (2) in which

kavyasastraprasritah and other persons of worldly

pursuits like those in the passage preceding the

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1 The Tibetan version appears to take these words as

denoting subdivisions of the Ajivikas.

2 Probably one of the very oldest Mahayana-books. I

propose shortly to puhlish fragments of a MS. of

it assignable to the fourth or fifth century.

p.125

present oocur. The chief interest, however, of

the passage seems to be that it supplies an

independent commentary, which from its language must

be at least as old as Buddhaghosa, on the list

preserved in the Angruttara- nikaya.

The nest passage is Mahavastu, iii, 412, 7-10: "

atha khalu anyatirthika caraka parivrajaka

traidandaka-m-anandika guru putraka-Gautama

dharmacintika vrddhasravaka-trtiya

ulukapaksikabhagini sramana Yasodhasya.... rddhi

pratiharyani drstva.... samhrsta romajata abhunsuh

yavat svakhyato bhagavato Gautamasya dharmavinayo

vivrto..." The difficulty of this passage is pointed

out in M. Senart's notes. I may observe, however,

that the Carakas and Parivrajakas as general terms(1)

head the list of sectaries, as before; and that the

two persons who accompanied the nun may have been (as

indicated by my hyphens) (1) a Traidandika, and (2)

an aged disciple of Gautama, Anandikaguruputraka. I

take it that this last expression is an epithet

intended to distinguish this Gautama from Bhagavan

Gautama (Buddha) mentioned just below. As to the

expression ulukapaksika, it must refer at least

primarily to the ascetic body who more owls'- wings

(ulukapakkham dhareti; Digha-n.(2) i, p. 167). There

seems at present hardly evidence enough to connect

them definitely with the Aulukya Vaisesikas of

Hemacandra and Madhava.

The interest of the passage first quoted seems to

be that it forms a kind of commentary on the passage

from the Anguttara. Thus, line 2 refers to class 9

(Gotamakah) of the Pali list. They had a vow of

silence and followed a Gotama distinguished from

Gotama Buddha. The acela guru of line 3 is the

teacher called Gosala or Gosaliputra, and surnamed.

Maskarin(3) (Skt.), Makkhali (Pali), or Mankhali

(Jain Pkt.). See Buddhaghosa's Sumangala-v., i, p.

162, translated by

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1 So, too, Lalitav., 2, 22: anyatirthika

sramana-brahmana- caraka- parivrajaka

2 Apanako in the same passage would seem to suggest

that apipasa is the right reading in Milinda-p.,

p. 191, n. 7.

3 M. Vyutp., 175, Av.-Cat.,Tale 40.

p.126

Dr. Hornle, Uvas.-d., Appendix, p. 22. Once a

Jain, according to Jain tradition, he founded the

Ajivikas, No. 1 in the Pali list. The subdivision of

the school here given possibly refers to the lay and

monastic adherents.(1)

Dirghajata corresponds to Jatilaka, No. 4 in the

list. One cannot be sure that these, any more than

the Parivrajaka (who come next in the Pall list),

formed a separate body Kumaravr. refers rather to

the age at which the vow was taken than to

brahmacarya or chastity; so at least the Tibetan

version implies.

Line 9 refers to a fairly well-known practice of

Brahmanical ascetics (Manu, vi, 23). Line 10 is

illustrated by Majjhima-n., sutta 57.(2) The next

stanza, conveys an antithesis between two classes of

religieux, such as specialized in the theology and

ritual and such as wandered forth to seek new

teachings. The former correspond to No. 10

(Devadhammika) of the Pali list. Seven of the ten are

thus referred to.

The last stanza refers to miscellaneous ascetic

practices, such as are Often referred to in the Pall

scriptures.(3) It will of course be noted that these

passages are independent of the 'six tirthakas,' who

form part of the common tradition(4) of Buddhism.

The list in the Anguttara-nikaya'. is independent

of this tradition. It is a less precise and formal

series, partly overlapping the shorter one, and

having the disadvantage

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1 Separately mentioned by Buddhaghosa, loc. cit.

Compare Hornle's amusing note (11).

2 Reference given to me by Professor Davids. Now

translated by Dr. Neumann. For the go-vrata see

also Mahabh. Udyogap., xcix, 14. Mrgacarya is

referred to ibid., exxi, 20.

3 Rhys Davids' tr. Dighanikaya, p. 227, n. 1. Some of

the practices referred to in lines 18, 19, are

also attributed to the Ajivikas in Jataka, vol. i,

p. 493. If the rather obscure language of 1. 19

can be understood to mean that the man slept and

lived in a kind of cage or contrivance of poles,

some of the difficulties in the Pali passage

referred to by Professor Davids, op. cit., p. 228,

n. 1, would disappear. The Tib. is gtun-sin =

'pestle-wood'; and Jaschke, s.v. gtun,

satisfactorily explains the kind of large

instrument intended.

4 Echoed in a similar Jain tradition (Bhagavati,

translated by Hornle, Appendix to Uvas.-d., p. 4

med.). In the shipwreck described in Av.-Cat.,

Tale 81, it is curious to find invocations

offered, first to the 'six doctors,' then to the

Hindu gods, and lastly to Buddha.

p.127

of confusing orders of ascetics with differences

of religion. Still, as the passages adduced show, it

has its historical value.

It would be interesting to find whether the set of

' thirty tirthyas ' mentioned in line 11 of the Ratnolka-

extract could be similarly confirmed from other Buddhist

literature.