The Life of the Buddha: The Buddha's Daily Life.
In this way there passed by year after year of the Buddha's wandering ministry, but the events of the middle years cannot be chronologicaly arranged with exactitude; it will suffice if we give a general description of the Master's daily life at this time.
"From year to year the change from a period of wandering to a period of rest and retirement repeated itself for Buddha and his disciples. In the month of June when, after the dry, scorching heat of the Indian summer, clouds come up in towering masses, and the rolling thunders herald the approach of the rain-bearing monsoon, the Indian today, as in ages past, prepares himself and his home for the time during which all usual operations are interrupted by the rain: for whole weeks long in many places the pouring torents confine the inhabitants to their huts, or at any rate, to their villagers, while communication with neighbors is cut off by rapid, swollen streams, and by indundations. "The birds," says an ancient Buddhist work, "build their nests on tops of trees; and there they nestle and hide during the damp season." And thus also, it was an established practice with the members of monastic orders, undoubtedly not first in Buddha's time, but since ever there was a system of religious intinerancy in India, to suspend itinerant operations during the three rainy months and to spend this time in quiet retirement in the neighbourhood of towns and villages, where sure support was to be found through the charity of believers ... Buddha also every year for three months 'kept vassa, rainy season,' surrounded by groups of his disciples, who flocked together to pass the rainy season near their teacher. Kings and wealthy men contended for the honour of entertaining him and his disciples, who were with him, as guests during this season in the hospices and gardens which they had provided for the community. The rains being over, the itinerating began: Buddha went from town to town and village to village, always attended by a great concourse of disciples; the texts are wont to speak in one place of three hundred, and in another of five hundred, who followed their master. In the main streets, through which the religious pilgrims, like travelling merchants, used to pass, the believers who dwelt near had taken care to provide shelter, to which Buddha and his disciples might resort; or, where monks who professed the doctrine dwelt, there was sure to be found lodging for the night in their abodes, and even if no other cover was to be had, there was no want of mango or banyan trees, at the feet of which the band might halt for the night ... "
"The most important headquarters during these wanderings, at the same time the approximately extreme points, to the north-west and south-east of the area, in which Buddha's pilgrim life was passed, are the capital cities of the kings of Kosala and Magadha, Savatthi, now Sahet Maheth on the Rapti, and Rajagaha, now Rajgir, south of Bihar. In the immediate neighbourhood of these towns the community possessed numerous pleasant gardens, in which structures of various kinds were erected for the requirements of the members. 'Not too far from, nor yet too near the town,' thus runs the standard description of such a park given in the sacred texts, 'well provided with entrances and exits, easily accessible to all people who enquire after it, with not too much of the bustle of life by day, quiet by night, far from commotion and the crowds of men, a place of retirement, a good place for solitary meditation.' Such a garden was the Veluvana, 'Bambu Grove,' once a pleasure-ground of King Bimbisara, and presented by him to Buddha and the Church; another was the still more renowned Jetavana at Savatthi, a gift made by Buddha's most liberal admirer, the great merchant Anathapindika. Not alone the sacred texts, but equally also the monumental records, the reliefs of the great Stupa of Bharhut, recently explored, show how highly celebrated this gift of Anathapindika's was from the earliest days in the Buddhist Church ... If it is possible to speak of a home in the homeless wandering life of Buddha and his disciples, places like the Veluvana and Jetavana may of all others be so called, near the great centres of Indian life and yet untouched by the turmoil of the capitals, once the quiet resting-places of rulers and nobles, before the yell-robed mendicants appeared on the scene, and 'the Church in the four quarters, present and absent,' succeeded to the possession of the kingly inheritance. In these gardens were the residences of the brethren, houses, halls, cloisters, storerooms, surrounded by lotus-pools, fragrant mango trees, and slender fan-palms that lift their foliage high over all else, and by the deep green foliage of the Nyagrodha tree, whose roots dropping from the air to earth become new stems, and with their cool shady arcades and leafy walks seem to invite to peaceful meditation."
"These were the surroundings in which Buddha passed a great part of his life, probably the portions of it richest in effective work. Here masses of the population, lay as well as monastic, flocked together to see him, and to hear him preach. Hither came pilgrim monks from far countries, who had heard the fame of Buddha's teaching, and, when the rainy season was past, undertook a pilgrimage to see the Master face to face ..."
"The fame of Buddha's person also drew together from far and near crowds of such as stood without the narrower circles of the community. 'To the ascetic Gotama,' people remarked to one another, 'folks are coming, passing through kingdoms and countries, to converse with him.' Often, when he happened to halt near the residences of potentates, kings, princes, and dignitaries came on wagons or on elephants to put questions to him or to hear his doctrine. Such a scene is described to us in the opening of the 'Sutra on the fruit of asceticism,' and reappears in pictorial representation among the reliefs at Bharhut. The Sutra relates how King Ajatasattu of Magadha in the 'Lotus-night' that is, in the full moon of October, the time when the lotus blooms is sitting in the open air, surrounded by his nobles on the flat roof of his palace. 'Then,' as it is recorded in that text, the king of Magadha, Ajatasattu, the son of the Vaidehi princes, uttered this exclamation, "Fair in sooth is this moonlight night, lovely in sooth is this moonlight night, grand in sooth is this moonlight night, happy omens in sooth giveth this moonlight night. What Samana or what Brahman shall I go to hear, that my soul may be cheered when I hear him?'" One counsellor names this and another that teacher; but Jivaka, the king's physician, sits on in silence. Then the king of Magadha, Ajatassatu, the sun of Bodehai, spake toJivaka Komarabhacca: "Why art thou silent, friend Jivaka?" Sire, in my mango grove he resteth, the exalted, holy, supreme Buddha, with a great band of disciples, with three hundred monks; of him, the exalted Gotama, there spreadeth through the world lordly praise in these terms: He, the exalted one, is the holy, supreme Buddha, the wise, the learned, the blessed, he who knoweth the universe, the highest, who tameth man like an ox, the teacher of gods and men, the exalted Buddha. Sire, go to hear him, the exalted one; perchance, if thous seest him, the exalted one, thy soul, O sire, may be refreshed and the king orders elephants to be prepared for himself and the queens, and the royal procession moves with burning torches on that moonlight night through the gate of Rajagaha to Jivaka's mango grove, where Buddha is said to have held with the king the famous discourse, 'On the fruits of asceticism,' at the end of which the king joined the Church as a lay-member." ...
"A frequent end of these dialogues is, of course, that the vanquished opponents or the partisans of Buddha invite him and his disciples to dine on the following day. 'Sir, may it please the Exalted One and his disciples to dine with me tomorrow,' And Buddha permits his consent to be inferred from his silence. On the following day, about noon, when dinner is ready, the host sends word to Buddha: 'Sire, it is time, the dinner is ready'; and Buddha takes his cloak and alms-bowl and goes with his disciples into the town or village to the residence of his host. After dinner ... at which the host himself and his family serve the guests, when the customary hand-washing is over, the host takes his place with his family at Buddha's side, and Buddha addresses to them a word of spiritual admonition and instruction."
"If the day be not filled by an invitation, Buddha, according to monastic usages, undertakes his circuit of the village or town in quest of alms. He, as well as his disciples, rises early, when the light of dawn appears in the sky, and spends the early moments in spiritual exercises or in converse with his disciples, and then he proceeds with his companions towards the town. In the days when his reputation stood at its highest point and his name was named throughout India among the foremost names, one might day by day see that man before whom kings bowed themselves, walking about, alms-bowl in hand, through streets and alleys, from house to house, and without uttering any request, with downcast look, stand silently waiting until a morsel of food was thrown into his bowl."
"When he had returned from his begging excursion and had eaten his repast, there followed, as the Indian climate demanded, a time, if not of sleep, at any rate of peaceful retirement. Resting in a quiet chamber or, better still, in the cool shades of dense foliage, he passed the sultry close hours of the afternoon in solitary contemplation until the evening came on and drew him once more from holy silence to the bustling concourse of friend and foe."
In this way there passed by year after year of the Buddha's wandering ministry, but the events of the middle years cannot be chronologicaly arranged with exactitude; it will suffice if we give a general description of the Master's daily life at this time.
"From year to year the change from a period of wandering to a period of rest and retirement repeated itself for Buddha and his disciples. In the month of June when, after the dry, scorching heat of the Indian summer, clouds come up in towering masses, and the rolling thunders herald the approach of the rain-bearing monsoon, the Indian today, as in ages past, prepares himself and his home for the time during which all usual operations are interrupted by the rain: for whole weeks long in many places the pouring torents confine the inhabitants to their huts, or at any rate, to their villagers, while communication with neighbors is cut off by rapid, swollen streams, and by indundations. "The birds," says an ancient Buddhist work, "build their nests on tops of trees; and there they nestle and hide during the damp season." And thus also, it was an established practice with the members of monastic orders, undoubtedly not first in Buddha's time, but since ever there was a system of religious intinerancy in India, to suspend itinerant operations during the three rainy months and to spend this time in quiet retirement in the neighbourhood of towns and villages, where sure support was to be found through the charity of believers ... Buddha also every year for three months 'kept vassa, rainy season,' surrounded by groups of his disciples, who flocked together to pass the rainy season near their teacher. Kings and wealthy men contended for the honour of entertaining him and his disciples, who were with him, as guests during this season in the hospices and gardens which they had provided for the community. The rains being over, the itinerating began: Buddha went from town to town and village to village, always attended by a great concourse of disciples; the texts are wont to speak in one place of three hundred, and in another of five hundred, who followed their master. In the main streets, through which the religious pilgrims, like travelling merchants, used to pass, the believers who dwelt near had taken care to provide shelter, to which Buddha and his disciples might resort; or, where monks who professed the doctrine dwelt, there was sure to be found lodging for the night in their abodes, and even if no other cover was to be had, there was no want of mango or banyan trees, at the feet of which the band might halt for the night ... "
"The most important headquarters during these wanderings, at the same time the approximately extreme points, to the north-west and south-east of the area, in which Buddha's pilgrim life was passed, are the capital cities of the kings of Kosala and Magadha, Savatthi, now Sahet Maheth on the Rapti, and Rajagaha, now Rajgir, south of Bihar. In the immediate neighbourhood of these towns the community possessed numerous pleasant gardens, in which structures of various kinds were erected for the requirements of the members. 'Not too far from, nor yet too near the town,' thus runs the standard description of such a park given in the sacred texts, 'well provided with entrances and exits, easily accessible to all people who enquire after it, with not too much of the bustle of life by day, quiet by night, far from commotion and the crowds of men, a place of retirement, a good place for solitary meditation.' Such a garden was the Veluvana, 'Bambu Grove,' once a pleasure-ground of King Bimbisara, and presented by him to Buddha and the Church; another was the still more renowned Jetavana at Savatthi, a gift made by Buddha's most liberal admirer, the great merchant Anathapindika. Not alone the sacred texts, but equally also the monumental records, the reliefs of the great Stupa of Bharhut, recently explored, show how highly celebrated this gift of Anathapindika's was from the earliest days in the Buddhist Church ... If it is possible to speak of a home in the homeless wandering life of Buddha and his disciples, places like the Veluvana and Jetavana may of all others be so called, near the great centres of Indian life and yet untouched by the turmoil of the capitals, once the quiet resting-places of rulers and nobles, before the yell-robed mendicants appeared on the scene, and 'the Church in the four quarters, present and absent,' succeeded to the possession of the kingly inheritance. In these gardens were the residences of the brethren, houses, halls, cloisters, storerooms, surrounded by lotus-pools, fragrant mango trees, and slender fan-palms that lift their foliage high over all else, and by the deep green foliage of the Nyagrodha tree, whose roots dropping from the air to earth become new stems, and with their cool shady arcades and leafy walks seem to invite to peaceful meditation."
"These were the surroundings in which Buddha passed a great part of his life, probably the portions of it richest in effective work. Here masses of the population, lay as well as monastic, flocked together to see him, and to hear him preach. Hither came pilgrim monks from far countries, who had heard the fame of Buddha's teaching, and, when the rainy season was past, undertook a pilgrimage to see the Master face to face ..."
"The fame of Buddha's person also drew together from far and near crowds of such as stood without the narrower circles of the community. 'To the ascetic Gotama,' people remarked to one another, 'folks are coming, passing through kingdoms and countries, to converse with him.' Often, when he happened to halt near the residences of potentates, kings, princes, and dignitaries came on wagons or on elephants to put questions to him or to hear his doctrine. Such a scene is described to us in the opening of the 'Sutra on the fruit of asceticism,' and reappears in pictorial representation among the reliefs at Bharhut. The Sutra relates how King Ajatasattu of Magadha in the 'Lotus-night' that is, in the full moon of October, the time when the lotus blooms is sitting in the open air, surrounded by his nobles on the flat roof of his palace. 'Then,' as it is recorded in that text, the king of Magadha, Ajatasattu, the son of the Vaidehi princes, uttered this exclamation, "Fair in sooth is this moonlight night, lovely in sooth is this moonlight night, grand in sooth is this moonlight night, happy omens in sooth giveth this moonlight night. What Samana or what Brahman shall I go to hear, that my soul may be cheered when I hear him?'" One counsellor names this and another that teacher; but Jivaka, the king's physician, sits on in silence. Then the king of Magadha, Ajatassatu, the sun of Bodehai, spake toJivaka Komarabhacca: "Why art thou silent, friend Jivaka?" Sire, in my mango grove he resteth, the exalted, holy, supreme Buddha, with a great band of disciples, with three hundred monks; of him, the exalted Gotama, there spreadeth through the world lordly praise in these terms: He, the exalted one, is the holy, supreme Buddha, the wise, the learned, the blessed, he who knoweth the universe, the highest, who tameth man like an ox, the teacher of gods and men, the exalted Buddha. Sire, go to hear him, the exalted one; perchance, if thous seest him, the exalted one, thy soul, O sire, may be refreshed and the king orders elephants to be prepared for himself and the queens, and the royal procession moves with burning torches on that moonlight night through the gate of Rajagaha to Jivaka's mango grove, where Buddha is said to have held with the king the famous discourse, 'On the fruits of asceticism,' at the end of which the king joined the Church as a lay-member." ...
"A frequent end of these dialogues is, of course, that the vanquished opponents or the partisans of Buddha invite him and his disciples to dine on the following day. 'Sir, may it please the Exalted One and his disciples to dine with me tomorrow,' And Buddha permits his consent to be inferred from his silence. On the following day, about noon, when dinner is ready, the host sends word to Buddha: 'Sire, it is time, the dinner is ready'; and Buddha takes his cloak and alms-bowl and goes with his disciples into the town or village to the residence of his host. After dinner ... at which the host himself and his family serve the guests, when the customary hand-washing is over, the host takes his place with his family at Buddha's side, and Buddha addresses to them a word of spiritual admonition and instruction."
"If the day be not filled by an invitation, Buddha, according to monastic usages, undertakes his circuit of the village or town in quest of alms. He, as well as his disciples, rises early, when the light of dawn appears in the sky, and spends the early moments in spiritual exercises or in converse with his disciples, and then he proceeds with his companions towards the town. In the days when his reputation stood at its highest point and his name was named throughout India among the foremost names, one might day by day see that man before whom kings bowed themselves, walking about, alms-bowl in hand, through streets and alleys, from house to house, and without uttering any request, with downcast look, stand silently waiting until a morsel of food was thrown into his bowl."
"When he had returned from his begging excursion and had eaten his repast, there followed, as the Indian climate demanded, a time, if not of sleep, at any rate of peaceful retirement. Resting in a quiet chamber or, better still, in the cool shades of dense foliage, he passed the sultry close hours of the afternoon in solitary contemplation until the evening came on and drew him once more from holy silence to the bustling concourse of friend and foe."
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place time topic people language
India - Ancient - Religion/philosophy - Indians/Buddhists - English
India - Ancient - Religion/philosophy - Indians/Buddhists - English
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