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INTRODUCTION.
xxxix
religious legends of this kind vary and grow; and the existence of these Chinese translations affords ground for the hope that we may some day discover an earlier Sanskrit work on the same subject
The cremation ceremonies described in the sixth chapter are not without interest. It would be natural enough that Gotama should have been buried without any of those ritualistic forms the usefulness of which he denied, and without any appeal to gods whose power over men he ignored. But the tone of the narrative makes it at least possible that there was not really anything unusual in the method of his cremation; and that the elaborate rites prescribed in the Brâhmanical books for use at a funerala were not, in practice, observed in the case of the death of any person other than a wealthy Brâhman, or some layman of rank who was a devoted adherent of the Brâhmans.
In the same way we find that in those countries where the more ancient form of Buddhism still prevails, there are a few simple forms to be used in the case of the cremation of a distinguished Bhikkhu or Upåsaka; but in ordinary cases bodies are buried without any ceremony.
So in Ceylon, Robert Knox — whose rare and curious work, one of the most trustworthy books of travels extant, deserves more notice than it has received, and who was a captive there for many years before the natives were influenced by any contact with Europeans-says,
It may not be unacceptable to relate how they burn their dead. As for persons of inferior quality, they are interred in some convenient places in the woods (there being no set places for burial), carried thither by two or three of their friends, and buried without any more ado. They lay them on their backs, with their heads to the West, and their feet to the East, as we do. Then these people go and wash: for they are unclean by handling the dead.
"I have not been able to trace any reference to either of these Chinese works in Mr. Edkins's Chinese Buddhism.'
* See Max Müller in Z.D.M.G., vol. ix. * Knox's Historical Relation of Ceylon,' Part III, Chap. xi.
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| SR No. | 007674 |
| Book Title | Dhammapada |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Max Muller |
| Publisher | Oxford |
| Publication Year | 1881 |
| Total Pages | 2540 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 45 MB |