ANCIENT INDIAN SECTS AND ORDERS MENTIONED BY BUDDHIST WRITERS.
BENDALL. C.
The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society
1901
pp.122--127
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
--------------------
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
------------------------
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
------------------------
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
-----------------------
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.