Fetching
One moment.
Fetching
One moment.
Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1bt later, schools of Buddhist thought ; and a detailed comparison would pro- bably throw a very interesting light on the way in which 1 st Chapter 3rd Chapter 4th Chapter 5th Chapter 6th Chapter 53-56. 4-6; 16-23; 27-31; 27; 48-50. 15-18- 21-42. 48-51. 1 On p. xxxvi. 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 1 . 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 ritual- istic 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 Brihmanical books for use at a funeral 8 were not, in practice, observed in the case of the death of any person other than a wealthy Br&hman, or some layman of rank who was a devoted adherent of the BrAhmans. 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 Up&saka; 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 influ- enced by any contact with Europeans — says s , c 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. 1 I have not been able to trace any reference to either of these Chinese works in Mr. Edkins's ' Chinese Buddhism.' 8 See Max MuUer in Z. D. M. G., vol. ix. ' Knoxs 'Historical Relation of Ceylon,' Part III, Chap. xi. xl THE BOOK OF THE GREAT DECEASE. ' But persons of greater quality are burned, and that with ceremony. When they are dead they lay them out, and put a cloth over their privy parts ; and then wash the body, by taking half a dozen pitchers of water and pouring upon it. Then they cover him with a linen cloth, and so carry him forth to burning. This is when they burn the body speedily.
2hat with ceremony. When they are dead they lay them out, and put a cloth over their privy parts ; and then wash the body, by taking half a dozen pitchers of water and pouring upon it. Then they cover him with a linen cloth, and so carry him forth to burning. This is when they burn the body speedily. But otherwise they cut down a tree that may be proper for their purpose, and hollow it like a hog-trough, and put the body, being disembowelled and embalmed, into it, filling up all about with pepper, and so let it lie in the house until it be the king's command to carry it out to the burning. For that they dare not do without the king's order if the person deceased be a courtier. Sometimes the king gives no order in a great while ; it may be not at all : therefore, in such cases, that the body may not take up house-room or annoy them, they dig a hole in the floor of their house, and put hollowed tree and all in, and cover it. If afterwards the king commands to burn the body, they take it up again, in obedience to the king — otherwise there it lies. * Their order for burning is this : if the body be not thus put into a trough or hollow tree, it is laid upon one of his bedsteads, which is a great honour among them. This bedstead with the body on it, or hollowed tree with the body in it, is fastened with poles, and carried upon men's shoulders unto the place of burning, which is some eminent place in the fields, or highways, or where else they please. There they lay it upon a pile of wood some two or three feet high ; — then they pile up more wood upon the corpse, lying thus on the bedstead or in the trough. Over all they have a kind of canopy built (if he be a person of very high quality), covered at top, hung about with painted cloth, and bunches of cocoa-nuts, and green boughs ; and so fire is put to it. After all is burnt to ashes, they sweep to- gether the ashes into the manner of a sugar-loaf, and hedge the place round from wild beasts breaking in, and they will sow herbs there. Thus I saw the king's uncle, the chief tirinanx 1 (who was, as it were, the chief primate of all the 1 Knox's way of spelling Temnnanse, that is, Thera. INTRODUCTION. xli nation), burned upon a high place, that the blaze might be seen a great way V I myself saw an Unn&ns6 burned very much in this way near the Weyangoda Court-house ; and there is a long account in the native newspaper, the Lak-riwi-kirana (Ceylon Sunbeam), of the 12th March, 1870, of the crema- tion of a Weda-r&la, or native doctor. Bishop Bigandet relates in a note in his ' Life or Legend of Gautama ' the corresponding ceremonies still in use in Burma, of which he has been a witness 2 ; but cremation is apparently as seldom resorted to in Burma as it is in Ceylon. The unceremonious mode of burying the dead referred to by Knox is not adopted in the more settled districts on the sea coast.
3utama ' the corresponding ceremonies still in use in Burma, of which he has been a witness 2 ; but cremation is apparently as seldom resorted to in Burma as it is in Ceylon. The unceremonious mode of burying the dead referred to by Knox is not adopted in the more settled districts on the sea coast. When at Galle I enquired into the funeral customs there prevalent, with the following result 3 : A few hours after a man has died, the relations wash the corpse, shave it ; and, having clothed it with a strip of clean white cloth, place it on a bedstead covered with white cloth, and under a canopy (wiyana) also of white cloth. They then place two lamps, one to burn at the head, and the other at the foot of the corpse, and use perfumes. A coffin is then prepared, covered with black cloth ; and the body is placed on the coffin, and is then sprinkled over with lavender or rose-water. The women meanwhile bow backwards and forwards with their hands behind their heads, uttering loud wailings over the deceased. Then the male relatives carry the coffin to the grave, which is dug in one of their own cocoa-nut topes near by, and over which is raised a more or less elaborate canopy or arch of cloths and evergreens (gerfi-ge), adorned with the tender leaves and flowers of the cocoa-nut. Along the path also from the house to the grave young cocoa-nut leaves and flowers are sometimes hung, and the pathway itself is often spread with clean white cloths. The tom-tom beaters go first ; and the dull monotonous 1 In the older editions of Knox there is a curious engraving of a body being thus burnt. * Third edition, vol. ii. pp. 78, 79. ' See the Ceylon Friend for 1870, pp. 109 and following. xlii THE BOOK OF THE GREAT DECEASE. sound of their instruments of music is appropriate enough. Then follow some Buddhist mendicants, in number accord- ing to the wealth or influence of the deceased, and walking under a portable canopy of white cloth. Then the coffin is carried by the nearest male relatives, and followed by other male relatives and relations — no females, even the widowed mother of an only son, taking part in this last sad pro- cession. Three times the coffin is carried round the grave : then it is placed on two sticks placed across the mouth of the pit ; and one end of a roll of white cloth is placed on the coffin, the other end being held by all the UnnAnsSs (Bhikkhus) whilst the people repeat three times in P&li the well-known formula of the Refuges (the simple Nicene Creed of the Buddhists) : 'I take my refuge in the Buddha, I take my refuge in the Dhamma, I take my refuge in the Order 1 .' Then the priests respond, thrice repeating in P&li the well-known verse discussed below 2 : 'How transient are all component things 1 Their nature's to be born and die ; Coming, they go ; and then is best, When each has ceased, and all is rest!' Then the Unn&nsfis let go the roll of white cloth, and whilst water is poured from a goblet into a cup
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1bt later, schools of Buddhist thought ; and a detailed comparison would pro- bably throw a very interesting light on the way in which 1 st Chapter 3rd Chapter 4th Chapter 5th Chapter 6th Chapter 53-56. 4-6; 16-23; 27-31; 27; 48-50. 15-18- 21-42. 48-51. 1 On p. xxxvi. 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 1 . 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 ritual- istic 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 Brihmanical books for use at a funeral 8 were not, in practice, observed in the case of the death of any person other than a wealthy Br&hman, or some layman of rank who was a devoted adherent of the BrAhmans. 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 Up&saka; 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 influ- enced by any contact with Europeans — says s , c 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. 1 I have not been able to trace any reference to either of these Chinese works in Mr. Edkins's ' Chinese Buddhism.' 8 See Max MuUer in Z. D. M. G., vol. ix. ' Knoxs 'Historical Relation of Ceylon,' Part III, Chap. xi. xl THE BOOK OF THE GREAT DECEASE. ' But persons of greater quality are burned, and that with ceremony. When they are dead they lay them out, and put a cloth over their privy parts ; and then wash the body, by taking half a dozen pitchers of water and pouring upon it. Then they cover him with a linen cloth, and so carry him forth to burning. This is when they burn the body speedily.
2hat with ceremony. When they are dead they lay them out, and put a cloth over their privy parts ; and then wash the body, by taking half a dozen pitchers of water and pouring upon it. Then they cover him with a linen cloth, and so carry him forth to burning. This is when they burn the body speedily. But otherwise they cut down a tree that may be proper for their purpose, and hollow it like a hog-trough, and put the body, being disembowelled and embalmed, into it, filling up all about with pepper, and so let it lie in the house until it be the king's command to carry it out to the burning. For that they dare not do without the king's order if the person deceased be a courtier. Sometimes the king gives no order in a great while ; it may be not at all : therefore, in such cases, that the body may not take up house-room or annoy them, they dig a hole in the floor of their house, and put hollowed tree and all in, and cover it. If afterwards the king commands to burn the body, they take it up again, in obedience to the king — otherwise there it lies. * Their order for burning is this : if the body be not thus put into a trough or hollow tree, it is laid upon one of his bedsteads, which is a great honour among them. This bedstead with the body on it, or hollowed tree with the body in it, is fastened with poles, and carried upon men's shoulders unto the place of burning, which is some eminent place in the fields, or highways, or where else they please. There they lay it upon a pile of wood some two or three feet high ; — then they pile up more wood upon the corpse, lying thus on the bedstead or in the trough. Over all they have a kind of canopy built (if he be a person of very high quality), covered at top, hung about with painted cloth, and bunches of cocoa-nuts, and green boughs ; and so fire is put to it. After all is burnt to ashes, they sweep to- gether the ashes into the manner of a sugar-loaf, and hedge the place round from wild beasts breaking in, and they will sow herbs there. Thus I saw the king's uncle, the chief tirinanx 1 (who was, as it were, the chief primate of all the 1 Knox's way of spelling Temnnanse, that is, Thera. INTRODUCTION. xli nation), burned upon a high place, that the blaze might be seen a great way V I myself saw an Unn&ns6 burned very much in this way near the Weyangoda Court-house ; and there is a long account in the native newspaper, the Lak-riwi-kirana (Ceylon Sunbeam), of the 12th March, 1870, of the crema- tion of a Weda-r&la, or native doctor. Bishop Bigandet relates in a note in his ' Life or Legend of Gautama ' the corresponding ceremonies still in use in Burma, of which he has been a witness 2 ; but cremation is apparently as seldom resorted to in Burma as it is in Ceylon. The unceremonious mode of burying the dead referred to by Knox is not adopted in the more settled districts on the sea coast.
3utama ' the corresponding ceremonies still in use in Burma, of which he has been a witness 2 ; but cremation is apparently as seldom resorted to in Burma as it is in Ceylon. The unceremonious mode of burying the dead referred to by Knox is not adopted in the more settled districts on the sea coast. When at Galle I enquired into the funeral customs there prevalent, with the following result 3 : A few hours after a man has died, the relations wash the corpse, shave it ; and, having clothed it with a strip of clean white cloth, place it on a bedstead covered with white cloth, and under a canopy (wiyana) also of white cloth. They then place two lamps, one to burn at the head, and the other at the foot of the corpse, and use perfumes. A coffin is then prepared, covered with black cloth ; and the body is placed on the coffin, and is then sprinkled over with lavender or rose-water. The women meanwhile bow backwards and forwards with their hands behind their heads, uttering loud wailings over the deceased. Then the male relatives carry the coffin to the grave, which is dug in one of their own cocoa-nut topes near by, and over which is raised a more or less elaborate canopy or arch of cloths and evergreens (gerfi-ge), adorned with the tender leaves and flowers of the cocoa-nut. Along the path also from the house to the grave young cocoa-nut leaves and flowers are sometimes hung, and the pathway itself is often spread with clean white cloths. The tom-tom beaters go first ; and the dull monotonous 1 In the older editions of Knox there is a curious engraving of a body being thus burnt. * Third edition, vol. ii. pp. 78, 79. ' See the Ceylon Friend for 1870, pp. 109 and following. xlii THE BOOK OF THE GREAT DECEASE. sound of their instruments of music is appropriate enough. Then follow some Buddhist mendicants, in number accord- ing to the wealth or influence of the deceased, and walking under a portable canopy of white cloth. Then the coffin is carried by the nearest male relatives, and followed by other male relatives and relations — no females, even the widowed mother of an only son, taking part in this last sad pro- cession. Three times the coffin is carried round the grave : then it is placed on two sticks placed across the mouth of the pit ; and one end of a roll of white cloth is placed on the coffin, the other end being held by all the UnnAnsSs (Bhikkhus) whilst the people repeat three times in P&li the well-known formula of the Refuges (the simple Nicene Creed of the Buddhists) : 'I take my refuge in the Buddha, I take my refuge in the Dhamma, I take my refuge in the Order 1 .' Then the priests respond, thrice repeating in P&li the well-known verse discussed below 2 : 'How transient are all component things 1 Their nature's to be born and die ; Coming, they go ; and then is best, When each has ceased, and all is rest!' Then the Unn&nsfis let go the roll of white cloth, and whilst water is poured from a goblet into a cup
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
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