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BUDDHISM AND CASTE.

HE Tathāgata recreates the whole world like a

He has the same sentiments for the high as for the low, for the wise as for the ignorant, for the nobleminded as for the immoral. His teaching is pure, and makes. no discrimination between noble and ignoble, between

rich and poor. It is like unto water which cleanses all without distinction. It is like unto fire which consumesall things that exist between heaven and earth, great and small. It is like unto the heavens, for there is room in it,. ample room for the reception of all, for men and women, boys and girls, the powerful and the lowly." Such were the words in which Gautama Sākyamuni impressed on his disciples the universality of the salvation he brought into the world. How this spirit of universality has been carried out in practice is well shown by the attitude of Buddhism towards the baneful Hindu institution of caste.

On one occasion Ananda, one of the oldest disciples of the Buddha, passing by a well, where a girl of the Matanga caste was drawing water, asked her for some water to drink. She answered: "How dost thou ask water of me, an outcast who may not touch thee without contamination ?" Ananda replied: "My sister, I ask not of thy caste, I ask thee water to drink." The Chandala girl was overjoyed and gave Ananda water to drink. Ananda thanked her and went his way, but the girl, learning that he was a disciple of the Blessed One, repaired to the place where the Buddha was. The Blessed One, understanding her sentiments towards Ananda, made use of them to open her eyes to the truth, and took her among his disciples.

On the admission of this Chandala woman into the order of bhikshunis, King Prasenajit and the Brahmans and the Kshatriyas of Sravashti, feeling greatly scandalised, came to remonstrate with the Lord on his conduct. The Blessed One

demonstrated to them the futility of caste distinctions by the following simple reasoning.

Between ashes and gold there is a marked difference, but between a Brahman and a Chandāla there is nothing of the kind. A Brahman is not produced like fire by the friction of dry wood; he does not descend from the sky nor from the wind, nor does he arise piercing the earth. The Brahman is brought forth from the womb of a woman in exactly the same way as a Chandala. All human beings have organs exactly alike; there is not the slightest difference in any respect. How can they be regarded as belonging to different species? Nature contradicts the assumption of any specific inequality among mankind.

The Brahman is a specifically Indian phenomenon. In the neighbouring countries no Brihman exists. In those countries there are only masters and slaves. Those who are ich are masters, and those that are poor are slaves. The rich may become poor, and the poor rich. Even in India when a Kshatriya, a Vaisya, or a Sudra abounds in wealth, the members of the Brahman caste serve him; they wait for bs commands and use soft words to gratify him. To minister to his wants they rise before him in the morning and go not to sleep until he has retired to rest. Where then is the diference between the four castes? The declaration of the Brhmans that they alone are the high caste, and others are of low caste is an empty sound.

If a Brahman commits sin, he suffers for it like every other man. Like every other man the Brahman also has to abstain from sin, if he desires salvation. Does not the ethical world order also give the lie to the theory of specific inequalities among mankind? Are not also the native capacities and talents the same everywhere? Is not the Sudra who is despised for his caste capable like the Brahman of good thoughts and noble deeds? If a bath can purify a Brahman from dust and dirt, can it not equally purify every other man? If water shows no specal preference for the Brahman, does fire show any special regard to differences of caste? Does not the fire obtained by the members of the so-called highest caste by rubbing costly fragrant sticks arise just in the same way as

when the members of the so-called lowest caste rub pieces of wood from a dirty foulsmelling dog-trough or swinetrough? Further, when crossing takes place between the members of different castes, do not the children in all cases take after the mother as well as the father, and are we not able to assign them to their proper parents? Is it not otherwise with brutes among which the crossing of a mare with an ass produces a mule? What support then is there for supposing the existence of different species among mankind? On the contrary the good sense of the Brahmans themselves proves that it is the ethical worth of an individual that confers superiority. For in distributing alms they prefer an ethically good-natured man, even when he may exhibit no distinguishing marks, nay even when he may not have gone through the initiatory ceremony known as "second-birth." Accordingly it follows that, while it is possible to obtain exact information concerning the purity or impurity of an individual's conduct, no exact information can be obtained as regards birth and descent.

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In plants, insects, quadrupeds, snakes, fishes, and bird; the marks that constitute the species are abundant, wherea amongst men this is not the case. Neither the hair, no the formation of the skull, nor the colour of the skin, nơ the vocal organ, nor any other part of the body exhibits ary specific differences. By birth and descent all men a'e alike. They become different only through differences n occupation, and they are designated accordingly. Sone are called husbandmen, some artisans, some merchans, some kings, some robbers, some priests, and so on. one and the same caste different members follow different professions. Have we not among the Brahmans physiciars; necromancers; musicians; merchants; agriculturists ownng cattle, poultry and slaves; wealthy landholders who ave much wealth as the portion of their daughters, and recove much when their sons are married; butchers who kill animals and sell their flesh; those that provide gratificaion for the lust of others; those who tell lucky hours; those who sit dhārana; those who live like savages in the willerness; those who get their livelihood after the manner of those who break into houses to steal; beggars with long

hair, dirty teeth, immense nails, filthy bodies, and heads covered with dust and lice; and those who profess to be released from all desires and to be ready to release others also?

If we look closely, we see no difference between the body of a prince and the body of a slave. What is essential is that which may dwell in the most miserable frame, and which the wisest have saluted and honoured. The talk of 'high and low castes,' of 'the pure Brahmans, the only sons of Brahma,' is nothing but empty sound. The four castes are equal. He is a Chandāla who cherishes hatred ; who torments and kills living beings; who steals, or commits adultery; who does not pay his debts; who maltreats aged parents, or fails to support them; who gives evil counsel and hides the truth; who does not return hospitality nor render it; who exalts himself and debases others; who ignores the virtues of others and is jealous of their success. Not by birth, but by conduct, is one a Chandă la. He is a Brahman* who is free from sin. He is an outcast who is angry and cherishes hatred; who is wicked and hypocritical; who embraces error and is full of deceit. Whosoever is a provoker and avaricious, has sinful desires, is not afraid and ashamed to commit sins, he is an outcast. Not by birth does one become an outcast, not by birth does one become a Brahman; by deeds one becomes an outcast, by deeds one becomes a Brahman.*

""T is he is a Brahman indeed

Who knows the births that he has lived before;
And sees (with heavenly eye) the states of bliss,
And states of woe, that other men pass through;
Has reached the end of all rebirths, become

A sage, perfect in insight, Arahat

In these three modes of knowledge, three fold wise
Him do I call a Brahman a, three fold wise,

And not the man who mutters o'er again

The mystic verse so often uttered through before."*

*“A Brahman, O king, means one who has escaped from every sort and class of becoming, who is entirely free from evil and from stain, who is dependent on himself "-Milindapanha.

*Assalayana Sutta, Mathura Sutta, Ambatta Sutta, Vasetta Sutta, and Dasa Brahma Jātaka.

Aggañña Sutta, Digha Nikaya.

From the point of view of religion the Dharma makes no difference between one caste and another. All are admitted without distinction and difficulty into the Sangha. Only minors, soldiers, slaves, invalids and cripples are not permitted to join the order. These are inevitable exceptions. For the defence of even the best governed country soldiers are necessary, and they cannot be allowed to give up their work without sufficient reason. But with the permission of the government they may join the order. Like minors slaves are not free, and their admission into the Sangha before emancipation may prove harmful to their masters. But it is not to be supposed that the Dharma encourages slavery. On the contrary it teaches one to attain the highest freedom. Still slavery was an existing institution which the Buddha had to reckon with. To take off the sting from slavery the Blessed One specially taught that masters should provide for the welfare of their slaves by apportioning work to them according to their strength, supplying suitable food and wages, tending them in sickness, sharing with them unusual delicacies and occasionally granting them holidays. In one of his rock edicts Asoka emphasises the fact that the Dharma consists in kind treatment of slaves and servants, obedience to father and mother, charity, and respect for the sanctity of life. It is opposed to the spirit of Buddhism to regard one class of men as having been created for the purpose of serving another class. It is possible for every one to attain that self-culture and self-control which is designated by the word Nirvana, whether he be a Brahman or a Chandă la, a white man or a black man.

Invalids and cripples are disallowed because they are incapable of the effort needed to attain bodhi. For bhikshuta does not consist in leading an indolent and idle life, but in a strenuous active life for the good of others. "O bhikshus," says the Blessed One, "be not afraid of good works such is the name for happiness, for what is wished, desired, dear, and delightful,-namely good works."

For those that join the Sangha there is no caste. As the great streams, however many they may be, the Ganga, the Yamuna, the Achiravatī, the Sarayu, the Mahanadi, when they reach the great ocean, lose their old name and their old