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Hinduism and Buddhism, Vol I. (of 3) by Charles Eliot

C >> Charles Eliot >> Hinduism and Buddhism, Vol I. (of 3)




Analogous to the conception of Brahman as bliss, is the description of
him as light or "light of lights." A beautiful passage[196] says: "To
the wise who perceive him (Brahman) within their own self, belongs
eternal peace, not to others. They feel that highest, unspeakable bliss
saying, this is that. How then can I understand it? Has it its own light
or does it reflect light? No sun shines there, nor moon nor stars, nor
these lightnings, much less this fire. When he shines everything shines
after him: by his light all the world is lighted."

In most of the texts which we have examined the words Brahman and Atman
are so impersonal that they cannot be replaced by God. In other passages
the conception of the deity is more personal. The universe is often said
to have been emitted or breathed forth by Brahman. By emphasizing the
origin and result of this process separately, we reach the idea of the
Maker and Master of the Universe, commonly expressed by the word Isvara,
Lord. But even when using this expression, Hindu thought tends in its
subtler moments to regard both the creator and the creature as
illusions. In the same sense as the world exists there also exists its
creator who is an aspect of Brahman, but the deeper truth is that
neither is real: there is but One who neither makes nor is made[197]. In
a land of such multiform theology it would be hazardous to say that
Monotheism has always arisen out of Pantheism, but in the speculative
schools where the Upanishads were composed, this was often its genesis.
The older idea is that a subtle essence pervades all nature and the
deities who rule nature: this is spiritualized into the doctrine of
Brahman attributed to Yajnavalkya and it is only by a secondary process
that this Brahman is personified and sometimes identified with a
particular god such as Siva. The doctrine of the personal Isvara is
elaborated in the Svetasvatara Upanishad of uncertain date[198]. It
celebrates him in hymns of almost Mohammedan monotheism. "Let us know
that great Lord of Lords, the highest God of Gods, the Master of
Masters, the highest above, as God, as Lord of the world, who is to be
glorified[199]." But this monotheistic fervour does not last long
without relapsing into the familiar pantheistic strain. "Thou art
woman," says the same Upanishad[200], "and Thou art man: Thou art youth
and maiden: Thou as an old man totterest along on thy staff: Thou art
born with thy face turned everywhere. Thou art the dark-blue bee: Thou
the green parrot with the red eyes. Thou art the thunder cloud, the
seasons and the seas. Thou art without beginning because Thou art
infinite, Thou, from whom all worlds are born."




CHAPTER VI

RELIGIOUS LIFE IN PRE-BUDDHIST INDIA


In reading the Brahmanas and older Upanishads we often wish we knew more
of the writers and their lives. Rarely can so many representative men
have bequeathed so much literature and yet left so dim a sketch of their
times. Thought was their real life: of that they have given a full
record, imperfect only in chronology, for though their speculations are
often set forth in a narrative form, we hear surprisingly little about
contemporary events.

The territory familiar to these works is the western part of the modern
United Provinces with the neighbouring districts of the Panjab, the
lands of the Kurus, Pancalas, and Matsyas, all in the region of Agra and
Delhi, and further east Kasi (Benares) with Videha or Tirhut. Gandhara
was known[201] but Magadha and Bengal are not mentioned. Even in the
Buddha's lifetime they were still imperfectly brahmanized.

What we know of the period 800 to 600 B.C. is mostly due to the
Brahmans, and many Indianists have accepted their view, that they were
then socially the highest class and the repository of religion and
culture. But it is clear from Buddhist writings (which, however, are
somewhat later) that this pre-eminence was not unchallenged[202], and
many admissions in the Brahmanas and Upanishads indicate that some
centuries before the Buddha the Kshatriyas held socially the first rank
and shared intellectual honours with the Brahmans. Janaka, king of
Videha[203], and Yajnavalkya, the Brahman, meet on terms of mutual
respect and other Kshatriyas, such as Ajatasatru of Kasi and Pravahana
Jaivali are represented as instructing Brahmans, and the latter in doing
so says "this knowledge did not go to any Brahman before but belonged to
the Kshatriyas alone[204]." But as a profession theology, both practical
and speculative, was left to the Brahmans.

The proper relation between the nobles and Brahmans finds expression in
the office of Purohita[205] or domestic chaplain, which is as old as the
Vedas and has lasted to the present day. In early times he was not
merely a spiritual guide but also a councillor expected to advise the
king as to his enterprises and secure their success by appropriate
rites. By king we should understand a tribal chief, entrusted with
considerable powers in the not infrequent times of war, but in peace
obliged to consult the clan, or at least the aristocratic part of it, on
all matters of importance. A Purohita might attain a very high position,
like Devabhaga, priest of both the Kurus and Srinjayas[206]. The
Brahmans did not attempt to become kings, but the sacred books insist
that though a Brahman can do without a king, yet a king cannot do
without a Brahman. The two castes are compared to the deities Mitra and
Varuna, typifying intelligence and will. When they are united deeds can
be done[207]. But "the Gods do not eat the food of a king who is without
a Purohita." Other castes can offer sacrifices only by the mediation of
Brahmans, and it does not appear that kings disputed this, though they
claimed the right to think for themselves and may have denied the
utility of sacrifice[208]. Apart from kings the duties and claims of the
Brahman extend to the people at large. He has four virtues, "birth,
deportment, fame and the perfecting of the people," and in return the
people owe him respect, liberality, security against oppression and
against capital punishment.

Towns in this period must have been few and those few essentially forts,
not collections of palaces and temples. We hear of Kasi (Benares) but
the name may signify a district. People are said to go to the Kurus or
Pancalas, not to Mithila or any other city. It was in village life--which
is still the life of the greater part of India--that Brahmanism grew up.
Probably then as now Brahman families occupied separate villages, or at
least quarters, and were allowed to hold the land rent free as a reward
for rendering religious services to the king. They followed various
professions but the life which was most respected, and also most
lucrative, was that devoted to the study and practice of sacred science,
that is the learning and recitation of sacred texts, performance of
ceremonies, and theological discussion. The later law books divide a
Brahman's life into four stages or asramas in which he was successively
a student, a householder, a hermit and an ascetic[209]. The third and
fourth stages are not very clearly distinguished. A hermit is supposed
to renounce family life and live in the forest, but still to perform
sacrifices, whereas the Sannyasi or perfect ascetic, in many ways the
ideal of India, subsists on alms, freed alike from duties and passions
and absorbed in meditation. In the older Upanishads three stages are
indicated as part of contemporary practice[210]. For a period of from
nine to thirty-six years, a Brahman dwelt with a teacher. While his
state of pupilage lasted he lived on alms and was bound by the severest
vows of obedience and chastity. The instruction given consisted in
imparting sacred texts which could be acquired only by hearing them
recited, for writing, though it may have been known in India as early as
the seventh century B.C., was not used for literature. The Satapatha
Brahmana recommends the study not only of the four Vedas but of the
precepts (perhaps grammar, etymology, etc.), the sciences (perhaps
philosophy), dialogues (no doubt such as those found in the Upanishads),
traditions and ancient legends, stanzas and tales of heroes[211],
showing that, besides the scriptures, more popular compositions which
doubtless contained the germs of the later Epics and Puranas were held
in esteem.

On terminating his apprenticeship the young Brahman became a householder
and married, moderate polygamy being usual. To some extent he followed
the occupations of an ordinary man of business and father of a family,
but the most important point in establishing a home of his own was the
kindling of his own sacred fire[212], and the householder's life was
regarded as a series of rites, such as the daily offering of milk, the
new and full moon ceremonies, seasonal sacrifices every four months and
the Soma sacrifice once a year, besides oblations to ancestors and other
domestic observances. The third stage of life should begin when a
householder sees that his hair is turning grey and a grandson has been
born. He should then abandon his home and live in the forest. The
tradition that it is justifiable and even commendable for men and women
to abandon their families and take to the religious life has at all
times been strong in India and public opinion has never considered that
the deserted party had a grievance. No doubt comfortable householders
were in no hurry to take to the woods and many must always have shirked
the duty. But on the other hand, the very pious, of whom India has
always produced a superabundance, were not willing to bear the cares of
domestic life and renounced the world before the prescribed time. On the
whole Brahmanic (as opposed to Buddhist) literature is occupied in
insisting not so much that the devout should abandon the world as that
they must perform the ritual observances prescribed for householders
before doing so.

The Brahman's existence as drawn in the law-books is a description of
what the writers thought ought to be done rather than of the general
practice. Still it cannot be dismissed as imaginary, for the
Nambutiri[213] Brahmans of Travancore have not yet abandoned a mode of
life which is in essentials that prescribed by Manu and probably that
led by Brahmans in the seventh century B.C. or earlier[214].

They are for the most part landowners dwelling in large houses built to
accommodate a patriarchal family and erected in spacious compounds. In
youth they spend about eight years in learning the Veda, and in mature
life religious ceremonies, including such observances as bathing and the
preparation of meals, occupy about six hours of the day. As a
profession, the performance of religious rites for others is most
esteemed. In food, drink and pleasures, the Nambutiris are almost
ascetics: their rectitude, punctiliousness and dignity still command
exaggerated respect. But they seem unproductive and petrified, even in
such matters as literature and scholarship, and their inability to adapt
themselves to changing conditions threatens them with impoverishment and
deterioration.

Yet the ideal Brahmanic life, which by no means excludes intellectual
activity, is laid out in severe and noble lines and though on its good
side somewhat beyond the reach of human endeavour and on its bad side
overloaded with pedantry and superstition, it combines in a rare degree
self-abnegation and independence. It differs from the ideal set up by
Buddhism and by many forms of Hinduism which preach the renunciation of
family ties, for it clearly lays down that it is a man's duty to
continue his family and help his fellow men just as much as to engage in
religious exercises. Thus, the Satapatha Brahmana[215] teaches that man
is born owing four debts, one to the gods, one to the Rishis or the
sages to whom the Vedic hymns were revealed, one to his ancestors and
one to men. To discharge these obligations he must offer sacrifices,
study the Veda, beget a son and practise hospitality.

The tranquil isolation of village life in ancient India has left its
mark on literature. Though the names of teachers are handed down and
their opinions cited with pious care, yet for many centuries after the
Vedic age we find no books attributed to human authors. There was an
indifference to literary fame among these early philosophers and a
curious selflessness. Doctors disputed as elsewhere, yet they were at no
pains to couple their names with theories or sects. Like the Jewish
Rabbis they were content to go down to posterity as the authors of a few
sayings, and these are mostly contributions to a common stock with no
pretension to be systems of philosophy. The Upanishads leave an
impression of a society which, if reposeful, was also mentally alert and
tolerant to an unusual degree. Much was absent that occupied the
intelligence of other countries. Painting, sculpture and architecture
can have attained but modest proportions and the purview of religion
included neither temples nor images. India was untroubled by foreign
invasions and all classes seem to have been content to let the
Kshatriyas look after such internal politics as there were. Trade too
was on a small scale. Doubtless the Indian was then, as now, a good man
of business and the western coast may have been affected by its
relations with the Persian Gulf, but Brahmanic civilization was a thing
of the Midland and drew no inspiration from abroad. The best minds were
occupied with the leisurely elaboration and discussion of speculative
ideas and self-effacement was both practised and preached.

But movement and circulation prevented this calm rustic world from
becoming stagnant. Though roads were few and dangerous, a habit of
travel was conspicuous among the religious and intellectual classes. The
Indian is by nature a pilgrim rather than a stationary monk, and we
often hear of Brahmans travelling in quest of knowledge alone or in
companies, and stopping in rest houses[216]. In the Satapatha
Brahmana[217], Uddalaka Aruni is represented as driving about and
offering a piece of gold as a prize to those who could defeat him in
argument. Great sacrifices were often made the occasion of these
discussions. We must not think of them as mere religious ceremonies, as
a sort of high mass extending over several days. The fact that they
lasted so long and involved operations like building sheds and altars
made them unlike our church services and gave opportunities for debate
and criticism of what was done. Such competition and publicity were good
for the wits. The man who cut the best figure in argument was in
greatest demand as a sacrificer and obtained the highest fees. But these
stories of prizes and fees emphasize a feature which has characterized
the Brahmans from Vedic times to the present day, namely, their
shameless love of money. The severest critic cannot deny them a
disinterested taste for intellectual, religious and spiritual things,
but their own books often use language which shows them as professional
men merely anxious to make a fortune by the altar. "The sacrifice is
twofold," says the Satapatha Brahmana, "oblations to the gods and gifts
to the priests. With oblations men gratify the gods and with gifts the
human gods. These two kinds of gods when gratified convey the worshipper
to the heavenly world[218]." Without a fee the sacrifice is as dead as
the victim. It is the fee which makes it living and successful[219].

Tradition has preserved the names of many of these acute, argumentative,
fee-loving priests, but of few can we form any clear picture. The most
distinguished is Yajnavalkya who, though seen through a mist of myths
and trivial stories about the minutiae of ritual, appears as a
personality with certain traits that are probably historical. Many
remarks attributed to him are abrupt and scornful and the legend
indicates dimly that he was once thought a dangerous innovator. But, as
has happened so often since, this early heretic became the corner stone
of later orthodoxy. He belonged to the school of the Yajur Veda and was
apparently the main author of the new or White recension in which the
prayers and directions are more or less separate, whereas in the old or
Black recension they are mixed together. According to the legend he
vomited forth the texts which he had learnt, calling his fellow pupils
"miserable and inefficient Brahmans," and then received a new revelation
from the Sun[220]. The quarrel was probably violent for the Satapatha
Brahmana mentions that he was cursed by priests of the other party. Nor
does this work, while recognizing him as the principal teacher, endorse
all his sayings. Thus it forbids the eating of beef but adds the curious
remark "Nevertheless Yajnavalkya said, I for one eat it, provided it is
tender[221]." Remarkable, too, is his answer to the question what would
happen if all the ordinary materials for sacrifices were absent, "Then
indeed nothing would be offered here, but there would be offered the
truth in faith[222]." It is probable that the Black Yajur Veda
represents the more western schools and that the native land of the
White recension and of Yajnavalkya lay further east, perhaps in Videha.
But his chief interest for us is not the reforms in text and ritual
which he may have made, but his philosophic doctrines of which I have
already spoken. Our principal authority for them is the Brihad-Aranyaka
Upanishad of which he is the protagonist, much as Socrates is of the
Platonic dialogues. Unfortunately the striking picture which it gives of
Yajnavalkya cannot be accepted as historical. He is a prominent figure
in the Satapatha Brahmana which is older than the Upanishad and
represents an earlier stage of speculation. The sketch of his doctrines
which it contains is clearly a preliminary study elaborated and
amplified in the Upanishad. But if a personage is introduced in early
works as expounding a rudimentary form of certain doctrines and in later
works is credited with a matured philosophy, there can be little doubt
that he has become a great name whose authority is invoked by later
thought, much as Solomon was made the author of the Proverbs and
Ecclesiastes and the Song which bears his name.

Yajnavalkya appears in the Brihad-Aranyaka as the respected friend but
apparently not the chaplain of King Janaka. This monarch celebrated a
great sacrifice and offered a thousand cows with a present of money to
him who should prove himself wisest. Yajnavalkya rather arrogantly bade
his pupil drive off the beasts. But his claim was challenged: seven
Brahmans and one woman, Gargi Vacaknavi, disputed with him at length but
had to admit his superiority. A point of special interest is raised by
the question what happens after death. Yajnavalkya said to his
questioner, "'Take my hand, my friend. We two alone shall know of this.
Let this question of ours not be discussed in public.' Then these two
went out and argued, and what they said was Karma and what they praised
was Karma[223]." The doctrine that a man's deeds cause his future
existence and determine its character was apparently not popular among
the priesthood who claimed that by their rites they could manufacture
heavenly bodies for their clients.


2

This imperfect and sketchy picture of religious life in India so far as
it can be gathered from the older Brahmanic books has reference mainly
to the kingdoms of the Kuru-Pancalas and Videha in 800-600 B.C. Another
picture, somewhat fuller, is found in the ancient literature of the
Buddhists and Jains, which depicts the kingdoms of Magadha (Bihar) and
Kosala (Oudh) in the time of the Buddha and Mahavira, the founder of
Jainism, that is, about 500 B.C. or rather earlier. It is probable that
the picture is substantially true for this period or even for a period
considerably earlier, for Mahavira was supposed to have revived with
modifications the doctrines of Parsvanatha and some of the Buddhas
mentioned as preceding Gotama were probably historical personages. But
the Brahmanic and Buddhist accounts do not give two successive phases of
thought in the same people, for the locality is not quite the same. Both
pictures include the territory of Kasi and Videha, but the Brahmanic
landscape lies mainly to the west and the Buddhist mainly to the east of
this region. In the Buddhist sphere it is clear that in the youth of
Gotama Brahmanic doctrines and ritual were well known but not
predominant. It is hardly demonstrable from literature, but still
probable, that the ideas and usages which found expression in Jainism
and Buddhism existed in the western districts, though less powerful
there than in the east[224].

A striking feature of the world in which Jainism and Buddhism arose was
the prevalence of confraternities or religious orders. They were the
recognized form of expression not only for piety but for the germs of
theology, metaphysics and science. The ordinary man of the world kept on
good terms with such gods as came his way, but those who craved for some
higher interest often separated themselves from the body of citizens and
followed some special rule of life. In one sense the Brahmans were the
greatest of such communities, but they were a hereditary corporation and
though they were not averse to new ideas, their special stock in trade
was an acquaintance with traditional formulae and rites. They were also,
in the main, sedentary and householders. Somewhat opposed to them were
other companies, described collectively as Paribbajakas or Samanas[225].
These, though offering many differences among themselves, were clearly
distinguished from the Brahmans, and it is probable that they usually
belonged to the warrior caste. But they did not maintain that religious
knowledge was the exclusive privilege of any caste: they were not
householders but wanderers and celibates. Often they were ascetics and
addicted to extreme forms of self-mortification. They did not study the
Vedas or perform sacrifices, and their speculations were often
revolutionary, and as a rule not theistic. It is not easy to find any
English word which describes these people or the Buddhist Bhikkhus. Monk
is perhaps the best, though inadequate. Pilgrim and friar give the idea
of wandering, but otherwise suggest wrong associations. But in calling
them monks, we must remember that though celibates, and to some extent
recluses (for they mixed with the world only in a limited degree), they
were not confined in cloisters. The more stationary lived in woods,
either in huts or the open air, but many spent the greater part of the
year in wandering.

The practice of adopting a wandering religious life was frequent among
the upper classes, and must have been a characteristic feature of
society. No blame attached to the man who abruptly left his family,
though well-to-do people are represented as dissuading their children
from the step. The interest in philosophical and theological questions
was perhaps even greater than among the Brahmans, and they were
recognized not as parerga to a life of business or amusement, but as
occupations in themselves. Material civilization had not kept pace with
the growth of thought and speculation. Thus restless and inquisitive
minds found little to satisfy them in villages or small towns, and the
wanderer, instead of being a useless rolling stone, was likely not only
to have a more interesting life but to meet with sympathy and respect.
Ideas and discussion were plentiful but there were no books and hardly
any centres of learning. Yet there was even more movement than among the
travelling priests of the Kurus and Pancalas, a coming and going, a
trafficking in ideas. Knowledge was to be picked up in the market-places
and highways. Up and down the main roads circulated crowds of highly
intelligent men. They lived upon alms, that is to say, they were fed by
the citizens who favoured their opinions or by those good souls who gave
indiscriminately to all holy men--and in the larger places rest houses
were erected for their comfort. It was natural that the more commanding
and original spirits should collect others round them and form bands,
for though there was public discussion, writing was not used for
religious purposes and he who would study any doctrine had to become the
pupil of a master. The doctrine too involved a discipline, or mode of
life best led in common. Hence these bands easily grew into communities
which we may call orders or sects, if we recognize that their
constitution was more fluid and less formal than is implied by those
words. It is not easy to say how much organization such communities
possessed before the time of the Buddha. His Sangha was the most
successful of them all and doubtless surpassed the others in this as in
other respects. Yet it was modelled on existing institutions and the
Vinaya Pitaka[226] itself represents him as prescribing the observance
of times and seasons, not so much because he thought it necessary as
because the laity suggested that he would do well to follow the practice
of the Titthiya schools. By this phrase we are to understand the
adherents of Makkhali Gosala, Sanjaya Belatthiputta and others. We know
less about these sects than we could wish, but two lists of schools or
theories are preserved, one in the Brahmajala Sutta[227] where the
Buddha himself criticises 62 erroneous views and another in Jain
literature[228], which enumerates no fewer than 363.

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A Stephen King fan has published an 80-page version of the book which novelist Jack Torrance obsessively writes during King's The Shining, where his descent into madness is revealed when his wife discovers that his work consists of just one phrase, endlessly repeated.

Torrance, played by Jack Nicholson in terrifying form in Stanley Kubrick's 1980 film, is a frustrated writer who goes with his wife and son to spend the winter in the isolated Overlook Hotel in an attempt to get the novel he has always wanted to write started. But the hotel's grisly past and unquiet ghosts have their way with him, and his wife Wendy eventually finds that the manuscript he has been working on actually only contains the phrase "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy", typed over and over again.

Now New York artist Phil Buehler, who describes himself as "a big fan of Stanley Kubrick and Stephen King", has self-published a book credited to Torrance, repeating the phrase throughout but formatting each page differently, using the words to create different shapes from zigzags to spirals.

"The idea has probably been marinating for years, because I loved the movie and the Stephen King book," said Buehler. "I'd just finished my own obsessive art project [and] it was an idea I had over the Christmas holidays."

He said he decided to stick to type and formatting that could have been created on a typewriter, with the first ten pages duplicating shots of Torrance's work from the film. "I thought 'if he continues to get crazier, what would those pages look like?'" he said. "I hit writer's block about 60 pages in, and I had to get to 80 - that went on for about a week." His fiancée, who had neither read the book nor seen the film, became a little concerned about his actions. "I finally showed her the movie, and she realised I wasn't really losing it," said Buehler.

He's included a spoof review from the blog OverThinkingIt.com on the book's back jacket, which compares it to "the best of Beckett" in its "lack of forward momentum", and considers the struggles of the author, "heroically pitting himself against the Sisyphusean sentence". "It's that metatextual struggle of Man vs. Typewriter that gives this book its spellbinding power," the review says. "Some will dismiss it as simplistic; that's like dismissing a Pollack canvas as mere splatters of paint."

So far, Buehler says that around 1,000 people have viewed the book, for sale on Blurb.com for $8.95 in paperback, or $22.95 in hardback, and he's sold "a few" copies, with sales now starting to pick up steam. "A few people have asked me to sign it - they're looking it as a piece of art rather than a funny thing to give to a Kubrick fan," he said. "If you're not a Kubrick or King fan, you might not even get it."

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