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AHIMSA
245
(17) Sacred Books of the East by Max Muller.
Vol. XLIX Buddhist Mahayana. Page 121 (65) “To kill a helpless victim through a wish for future reward, it would be an unseemly action for a merciful-hearted good man, even if the reward of the sacrifice were eternal; but what if, after all, it is subject to decay ?"
(67) "Even that happiness which comes to a man, while he stays in this world, through the injury of another, is hateful to the wise compassionate heart; how much more if it be something beyond our sight in another life?"
Note. From the statements given above, it will be known that ahimsa has been correctly described in the Buddhist Scriptures. We shall see later on that this description quite agrees with what is given in the Jain literature.
FLESH-EATING.
It appears in the present time that flesh-eating is much prevalent among the Buddhists. If I indepen. dently think of its cause, it appears to me that the old Poli books were first compiled in Ceylon in the 1st century, as is written in the introduction to Buddha Charya. “In the first century A. D, at Ceylon, Sutra, Vinaya and Abhidhamma, which till that time were learnt by heart only, were at first written. This is the Tripitaka.”
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