Authors: Yukio Mishima
Temple Of Dawn (17 page)
Extremely self-confident and excelling in elocution and debate, King Milinda was contemptuous of Indians as being intellectual chaff. And it was in the midst of this ravishing and glorious city that he met the Elder, Nagasena, for the first time, a sage superior in intellect to the King.
“O Wise One, when I call you Nagasena, exactly who is this Nagasena?” asked the King.
The Elder answered with a question: “What do you think Nagasena is?”
“O Wise One, I think Nagasena is what exists within a body, a life or soul which enters it as wind or breath.”
The King’s reply reminded Honda of the Pythagorean theory of the Universal Breath. That is to say,
psyche
in Greek originally meant “breath,” and if human psyche was breath, man was sustained by air, and thus the whole universe was maintained by air and breath. Such was the Ionean theory of natural philosophy.
psyche
in Greek originally meant “breath,” and if human psyche was breath, man was sustained by air, and thus the whole universe was maintained by air and breath. Such was the Ionean theory of natural philosophy.
The Elder further asked why it was that the breath of one who blows a conch, flute, or horn never returned once it was released, and yet the blower did not die. The King was unable to reply. Thereupon Nagasena made a statement which pointed up the fundamental difference between Greek and Buddhist philosophy.
“The soul is not breath. Inhaled and exhaled, breath is merely the body’s latent energy or power.”
Honda immediately felt he could anticipate the dialogue that would follow; it did in fact appear on the next page.
The King asked, saying: “O Wise One, is anyone and everyone reborn after dying?”“Some people do, some do not.”“What sort of people would they be?”“Those who have committed sins will be reborn; those who are sinless and pure will not be reborn.”“Are you going to be reborn, O Wise One?”“When I die, if I am attached to life in my heart, I shall be reborn; but if not, I shall not be reborn.”“I understand.”
From this point on, a zealous desire for learning was kindled in King Milinda’s heart, and pertinaciously he posed question upon question concerning samsara and transmigration. The King pursued the Elder with the spiral investigation of Greek dialogue, asking for proof of the “selflessness” of Buddhism and the question why men who possess no “self” go through samsara, and concerning the essence that is subject to the law of samsara. Because if samsara occurs through a sequence of causes and effects—a good cause producing by reward a good effect, a bad cause a bad one—there must be an eternal host substance responsible for causal actions. But atman, which was recognized in the days of the
Upanishads
, had been categorically denied in the Abhidharma teachings that characterized the school to which Nagasena belonged. Because of the doctrine and because of his ignorance of the elaborate system of the Consciousness Only school that developed later, Nagasena merely answered: “There is no samsaric subject as essence.”
Upanishads
, had been categorically denied in the Abhidharma teachings that characterized the school to which Nagasena belonged. Because of the doctrine and because of his ignorance of the elaborate system of the Consciousness Only school that developed later, Nagasena merely answered: “There is no samsaric subject as essence.”
But Honda saw an indescribable beauty in the parable which Nagasena used to explain samsara and transmigration, that of a sacred taper, whose flame is not quite the same in the evening, at midnight, and at dawn, and yet not different either as it continues on the same wick burning throughout the night. The karmic existence of an individual is not substantive existence but merely a succession of phenomena similar to the flame.
And so Nagasena taught that time was the existence of samsara itself, almost in the same manner as the Italian philosophers who espoused it many centuries later.
16
IT WAS ONLY NATURAL
that King Milinda should choose a Buddhist as his companion in these dialogues, for the ruler, being a foreigner, was necessarily excluded from Hinduism. One not born within the Indian caste system, sovereign or not, was arbitrarily rejected by this religion.
Honda’s first encounter with the words “samsara” and “reincarnation” had occurred thirty years before, at the house of Kiyoaki Matsugae, where, having listened to the sermon of the Abbess of the Gesshu Temple, he had on his own read the
Laws of Manu
in the French translation of Louis Delongchamps. These laws, which were compiled sometime between the second century before and the second century after the birth of Christ, inherited the idea of samsara established at the beginning of the eighth century
B.C.
in the
Upanishads
with their belief in the unity of Brahma and atman. The
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad
states:
Laws of Manu
in the French translation of Louis Delongchamps. These laws, which were compiled sometime between the second century before and the second century after the birth of Christ, inherited the idea of samsara established at the beginning of the eighth century
B.C.
in the
Upanishads
with their belief in the unity of Brahma and atman. The
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad
states:
Indeed the person performing a good deed will become benevolent and one performing a bad deed will become evil; one becomes pure by pure acts and black by evil acts. Therefore it is said: A human being is composed of
kama
, or “desire”; by following
kama
, one creates will; by following will one creates karma; and through karma, samsara comes into existence.
In retrospect, Honda’s experience in Benares might have been predestined since that day when, at nineteen, he had become familiar with the
Laws
. The
Laws of Manu
encompasses all of religion, morality, custom, and law, beginning with the creation of heaven and earth and ending with samsara. During their rule of India, the British wisely permitted these laws to continue in effect as practical rules for the Hindus who resided there.
Laws
. The
Laws of Manu
encompasses all of religion, morality, custom, and law, beginning with the creation of heaven and earth and ending with samsara. During their rule of India, the British wisely permitted these laws to continue in effect as practical rules for the Hindus who resided there.
After a second reading of the
Laws
, Honda was for the first time able to touch upon the origin of the jubilation and adoration that he had witnessed in Benares. He read in the impressive first chapter the description of the birth of Brahma, the ancestor of the entire world, where it is told how a divinity coming into being spontaneously expelled the chaos of darkness and began to shine. First he created water and placed a seed in it. The seed grew and became a golden egg as brilliant as the sun. A year later, he broke the egg and from it Brahma was born. And the water that had nurtured the god was that of Benares.
Laws
, Honda was for the first time able to touch upon the origin of the jubilation and adoration that he had witnessed in Benares. He read in the impressive first chapter the description of the birth of Brahma, the ancestor of the entire world, where it is told how a divinity coming into being spontaneously expelled the chaos of darkness and began to shine. First he created water and placed a seed in it. The seed grew and became a golden egg as brilliant as the sun. A year later, he broke the egg and from it Brahma was born. And the water that had nurtured the god was that of Benares.
The principle of reincarnation expounded in the
Laws of Manu
classifies human rebirth as being roughly of three kinds. Three natures govern the bodies of all sentient beings: wisdom (
sattva
), which is joyous, serene, and filled with pure, shining emotions, is reborn as a god; ignorance (
rajas
), which likes business enterprises, which is indecisive and tends to follow dishonest works and is addicted to sensuous pleasures, is reborn as man; and anger (
tamas
), which follows a life of indolence and dissipation, slothfulness, cruelty, unbelief, and evil, is reincarnated as an animal.
Laws of Manu
classifies human rebirth as being roughly of three kinds. Three natures govern the bodies of all sentient beings: wisdom (
sattva
), which is joyous, serene, and filled with pure, shining emotions, is reborn as a god; ignorance (
rajas
), which likes business enterprises, which is indecisive and tends to follow dishonest works and is addicted to sensuous pleasures, is reborn as man; and anger (
tamas
), which follows a life of indolence and dissipation, slothfulness, cruelty, unbelief, and evil, is reincarnated as an animal.
Transgressions that bring about transmigration into animals are itemized in detail: the murderer of a Brahman will enter the body of a dog, pig, donkey, camel, cow, goat, sheep, deer, or bird; a Brahman who steals money from another Brahman will be reborn a thousand times as a spider, snake, lizard, or aquatic animal; one who invades the bed of a noble person will be born a hundred times as grass, bush, vine, or flesh-eating animal; one who steals grain will become a rat, a honey filcher will become a horsefly; a milk thief will be born as a bird; a herb scrounger will be a dog; a meat stealer will be reborn as a condor; a thief of fat meat will become a cormorant; a salt filcher will transmigrate as a cricket; a robber of silk will be a partridge; a linen stealer will be reborn as a frog; a cotton thief will become a crane; a cow poacher will be an iguana; a filcher of incense will become a muskrat, a vegetable thief, a peacock; a stealer of fire, a heron; a furniture thief, a wasp; a horse thief, a tiger; a woman abductor, a bear; a stealer of water, a cuckoo; and a fruit poacher, a monkey.
17
NONETHELESS
, the Theravada Buddhism of Thailand was sustained by the naïve doctrines of the
jataka
, or “birth stories,” in the Southern Buddhist Canon that retained much of the flavor of the original Pali texts. It was not even considered strange for Shakyamuni, who had made no transgression as a bodhisattva in his former lives, to be reborn as a rat or a golden swan.
The southern teachings current in Thailand were unknown in Japan until the late nineteenth century. Within one to two hundred years after the death of the Buddha, they were divided into many schools, usually called the Eighteen Theravada Sects; and their teachings, brought to Ceylon by Mahinda under the rule of King Ashoka in the third century
B.C.
, are still practiced there and in Burma, Thailand, and Cambodia.
B.C.
, are still practiced there and in Burma, Thailand, and Cambodia.
In the Theravada Canon, written in Pali, the minute regulations set forth in the
vinaya
, or “rules” section, still regulate the daily lives of Siamese cenobites. Monks are subject to two hundred and fifty precepts, nuns to three hundred and fifty.
vinaya
, or “rules” section, still regulate the daily lives of Siamese cenobites. Monks are subject to two hundred and fifty precepts, nuns to three hundred and fifty.
Honda was anxious to learn about the Thai concept of samsara and transmigration, how it differed from the Yuishiki doctrine that attributes the existence of the exterior world to inner ideation, and what sort of characteristics it possessed. Whatever the little Princess’s belief, he wanted to know what ideas of samsara were entertained by the ubiquitous saffron-robed monks in Bangkok. He read voraciously.
Thus it was that he discovered that the doctrines of the Eighteen Theravada Sects had originated in the Abhidharma school to which Nagasena, the Elder who had conversed with King Milinda, belonged. As for the dissemination of the
Questions of King Milinda
, certain scholars claim that the work was probably compiled in northwestern India, where there were then Greek colonies, and later traveled eastward to the region of Magadha where it was transcribed into Pali. Ultimately, with the addition of some material, it reached Ceylon and spread from there to Burma and Thailand, becoming the
Milindapanha
of the Thai canon.
Questions of King Milinda
, certain scholars claim that the work was probably compiled in northwestern India, where there were then Greek colonies, and later traveled eastward to the region of Magadha where it was transcribed into Pali. Ultimately, with the addition of some material, it reached Ceylon and spread from there to Burma and Thailand, becoming the
Milindapanha
of the Thai canon.
We may thus assume that the particular Thai concept of samsara is approximately the same as that advocated by Nagasena. The basic tenet of this sect is that the karmic essence that causes samsara is thought or will. This is consistent with the
Agamas
and is very close to primary Buddhist thought. The followers of this sect claim that in terms of motivation there is basically neither good nor evil in men or matter in the external world. What makes them good or bad is completely the product of mind, thought, or will.
Agamas
and is very close to primary Buddhist thought. The followers of this sect claim that in terms of motivation there is basically neither good nor evil in men or matter in the external world. What makes them good or bad is completely the product of mind, thought, or will.
So far so good. But in explaining “selflessness,” or
anatman
, the Abhidharma school proceeds from the fact that the whole material world is
avyakrita
, “unrecordable” as either good or bad—neutral. For instance, imagine a carriage. Despite the fact that all the constituents of this carriage are simple material elements, they can turn into an instrument of crime if the driver runs over a man and escapes. Thus, as mind and will are causes for transgressions and karma, man is fundamentally
anatman
, “without self.” However, thought rides in the vehicle of the body and produces samsara and reincarnation through the six karmic causes: passion, anger, wrong views, indifference, non-anger, and correct views. Thought is the cause of samsara, but it is not the migrating body. What this body may be is never explained. The hereafter is merely a continuation of this world, and the taper light burning during one’s final evening in this world is the birth light of the next life with which it is linked.
anatman
, the Abhidharma school proceeds from the fact that the whole material world is
avyakrita
, “unrecordable” as either good or bad—neutral. For instance, imagine a carriage. Despite the fact that all the constituents of this carriage are simple material elements, they can turn into an instrument of crime if the driver runs over a man and escapes. Thus, as mind and will are causes for transgressions and karma, man is fundamentally
anatman
, “without self.” However, thought rides in the vehicle of the body and produces samsara and reincarnation through the six karmic causes: passion, anger, wrong views, indifference, non-anger, and correct views. Thought is the cause of samsara, but it is not the migrating body. What this body may be is never explained. The hereafter is merely a continuation of this world, and the taper light burning during one’s final evening in this world is the birth light of the next life with which it is linked.
On reflection, Honda seemed to understand better what must have been going on in the mind of the little Thai Princess.
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