The Life of the Buddha: Destruction of the Sakyas.
Not long after this, in the seventh year of Ajatasattu's reign, the son of the king of Kosala dethroned his father and, to revenge himself for a slight received, he marched on to Kapilavatthu. Almost the whole of the Sakya clam was destroyed in the ensuing war, while the paty of the Kosalas perished in a great flood.
When the Lord had reached his seventy-ninth year being the forty-fifth year following the Enlightenment Ajatassatu undertook an unsuccessful war upon the Vajjians of Vesali. The Buddha was consulted upon the likelihood of victory, and in this connection we are informed what is the Master's view of polity, for he declares that he himself has taught the Vajjians the conditions of true welfare, and as he is informed that the Vajjians are continuing to observe these institutions, he foretells that they will not suffer defeat. And these conditions are stated in the following terms: "So long, Ananda, as the Vajjians meet together in concord, and rise in concord, and carry out their undertakings in concord so long as they enact nothing already established, abrogate nothing that has been already enacted, and act in accordance with the ancient institutions of the Vajjians, as established in former days so long as they honour and esteem and revere the Vajjian elders, and hold it a point of duty to hearken to their words so long as no women or girls belonging to their clans are detained among them by force or abduction so long as they honour and esteem and revere and support the Vajjian shrines in town or country, and allow not the proper offerings and rites, as formerly given and performed, to fall into desuetude so long as the rightful protection, defence, and support shall be fully provided for the Arahats amongst them, so that Arahats from a distance may enter the realm, and the Arahats therein may live at ease so long may the Vajjians be expected not to decline, but to prosper."
Following upon this pronouncement the Master in like manner assembled the Brethren, and set forth forty-one conditions of welfare of a religious Order, of which conditions several relating to concord and to the observance and maintenance of existing regulations and obedience and respect to elders are identical with those which are given for the secular society. Amongst others we may note the following: "So long, O Bhikkhus ... as the Brethren delight in a life of solitude ... shall not engage in, be fond of, or be connected with business ... shall not stop on their way to Nibbana because they have attained to any lesser thing ... shall exercise themselves in mental activity, search after truth, energy, joy, peace, earnest contemplation, and equanimity of mind ... shall exercise themselves in the realization of the ideas of the impermanency of all phenomena, bodily or mental, the absence of every soul ... shall live among the Arahats in the practice, both in public and in private, of those virtues which are productive of freedom and praised by the wise, and are untarnished by desire of a future life or the faith in the efficacy of outward acts ... shall live among the Arahats, cherishing, both in public and private, that noble and saving insight which leads to the complete destruction of the sorrow of him who acts according to it so long may the Brethren be expected not to decline, but to prosper."
And at Rajagaha, on the Vulture's Peak, the Master taught the Brethren, and again at Nalanda in the same manner. "Such and such is upright conduct; such and such is earnest contemplation; such and such is intelligence. Great becomes the fruit, great the advantage of earnest contemplation, when it is set round with upright conduct. Great becomes the fruit, great the advantage of intellect, when it is set round with earnest contemplation. The mind, set round with intelligence, is set quite free from the Intoxications, that is to say, from the Intoxication of Sensuality, from the Intoxication of Becoming, from the Intoxication of Delusion, from the Intoxication of Ignorance."
Not long after this, in the seventh year of Ajatasattu's reign, the son of the king of Kosala dethroned his father and, to revenge himself for a slight received, he marched on to Kapilavatthu. Almost the whole of the Sakya clam was destroyed in the ensuing war, while the paty of the Kosalas perished in a great flood.
When the Lord had reached his seventy-ninth year being the forty-fifth year following the Enlightenment Ajatassatu undertook an unsuccessful war upon the Vajjians of Vesali. The Buddha was consulted upon the likelihood of victory, and in this connection we are informed what is the Master's view of polity, for he declares that he himself has taught the Vajjians the conditions of true welfare, and as he is informed that the Vajjians are continuing to observe these institutions, he foretells that they will not suffer defeat. And these conditions are stated in the following terms: "So long, Ananda, as the Vajjians meet together in concord, and rise in concord, and carry out their undertakings in concord so long as they enact nothing already established, abrogate nothing that has been already enacted, and act in accordance with the ancient institutions of the Vajjians, as established in former days so long as they honour and esteem and revere the Vajjian elders, and hold it a point of duty to hearken to their words so long as no women or girls belonging to their clans are detained among them by force or abduction so long as they honour and esteem and revere and support the Vajjian shrines in town or country, and allow not the proper offerings and rites, as formerly given and performed, to fall into desuetude so long as the rightful protection, defence, and support shall be fully provided for the Arahats amongst them, so that Arahats from a distance may enter the realm, and the Arahats therein may live at ease so long may the Vajjians be expected not to decline, but to prosper."
Following upon this pronouncement the Master in like manner assembled the Brethren, and set forth forty-one conditions of welfare of a religious Order, of which conditions several relating to concord and to the observance and maintenance of existing regulations and obedience and respect to elders are identical with those which are given for the secular society. Amongst others we may note the following: "So long, O Bhikkhus ... as the Brethren delight in a life of solitude ... shall not engage in, be fond of, or be connected with business ... shall not stop on their way to Nibbana because they have attained to any lesser thing ... shall exercise themselves in mental activity, search after truth, energy, joy, peace, earnest contemplation, and equanimity of mind ... shall exercise themselves in the realization of the ideas of the impermanency of all phenomena, bodily or mental, the absence of every soul ... shall live among the Arahats in the practice, both in public and in private, of those virtues which are productive of freedom and praised by the wise, and are untarnished by desire of a future life or the faith in the efficacy of outward acts ... shall live among the Arahats, cherishing, both in public and private, that noble and saving insight which leads to the complete destruction of the sorrow of him who acts according to it so long may the Brethren be expected not to decline, but to prosper."
And at Rajagaha, on the Vulture's Peak, the Master taught the Brethren, and again at Nalanda in the same manner. "Such and such is upright conduct; such and such is earnest contemplation; such and such is intelligence. Great becomes the fruit, great the advantage of earnest contemplation, when it is set round with upright conduct. Great becomes the fruit, great the advantage of intellect, when it is set round with earnest contemplation. The mind, set round with intelligence, is set quite free from the Intoxications, that is to say, from the Intoxication of Sensuality, from the Intoxication of Becoming, from the Intoxication of Delusion, from the Intoxication of Ignorance."
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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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