Note 32 — Chapter IV

The few and meagre particulars which we possess respecting the causes that have occasioned the holding of the second council, disclose a curious state of things as existing in the Buddhist community. The disciplinary regulations appear to have occupied a conspicuous part in the discussions that took place during the period of the first century. Some of those regulations were of trifling importance. We wonder how the religious could lay so much stress upon such a trifle as this, “Is is lawful to put salt or other condiments into articles of food, that would have been offered without such requisites?” The activity displayed by both parties in the controversy indicates the gradual working of opinions which in those parts had been always inimical to genuine Buddhism. In Wethalie and Thawattie, the holders of false tenets had been at all times bold and numerous. In the days of Buddha, heretics were swarming in those places. In the beginning of the fifth century of our era, Fa-hian, when he visited those places, says that he found that religion had almost disappeared, and that heretics were prevailing in every direction. We must conclude from these two circumstances that Buddhism never flourished in those places, or, at least, that it was never the prevailing creed of the mass of the people.

The disputes that took place in those days were not looked upon as of serious moment, since we see several religious of eminence supporting the anti-orthodox party. King Kalathoka himself was in favor of those whose opinions were condemned by the council. We may also infer from this sate of things, that the disciplinary regulations were far from being settled at that time. It required the experience of succeeding generations to determine exactly what was best fitted for promoting the well-being of the religious body, and causing its members to live agreeably to the spirit which Gaudama desired to infuse into the souls of his followers. It cannot therefore be a matter of surprise to see the assembly striving, in the midst of discussions, to elaborate the framing of the rules destined to guide the religious in the details of their daily duties. Under such circumstances there could not but be a great variety of opinions, supported with that heat and ardour so peculiar to individuals who live estranged from the world. Moreover, the conflicting opinions were maintained by the various schools, which, from the early period of the existence of Buddhism, sprung up and divided the members of the religious body. Circumstantial details respecting the various schools we allude to, would prove of the greatest advantage for elucidating the state of the great religious system under consideration, for enabling us to enter into the history of its internal development, and witnessing the various incidents that have marked its progress through ages, down to the period when it gradually lost its footing in the Indian Peninsula.

The eighteen different schools which have obtained celebrity throughout the Buddhist world are mentioned in the Cingalese collection, and in that of all the northern Buddhists, including the Chinese. In the manuscript which the writer possesses nothing is mentioned respecting these schools but their respective names. Had the chief opinions held out by each school been given out, they would have been expounded here at great length and with a scrupulous correctness. Such not being the case, the author has thought that it was useless to the reader to lay before him a dry and uninteresting array of names.