CHAPTER IV.

BUDDHISM AND EDUCATION IN BURMA.

Shamanism the ancient religion of Burma.-Adoration of nats and other spirits.-Three religions preceded Buddhism in India.—Buddhism a widespread religion.-Propagated by persuasion alone.-The Buddhas previous to Gautama.-The Jātaka fables.-Birth and parentage of Gautama.— His miraculous conception.-Education of Gautama.-Gautama's four visions. He deserts his palace and assumes the garb of an ascetic.-His trials and temptations in the wilderness.-He becomes a Buddha.—The sacred Bó-tree.-Gautama proceeds towards Benares to preach his doctrine. He visits his father.-Attempts on his life.-Punishment of Déwadat. -Gautama's death. His funeral.-Gautama's relics. - The Shwé-dagon pagoda at Rangoon.-The three Synods.-The Pitakatayan or Buddhist scriptures. - Powers of memory of Buddhist priests. -Two Buddhist missionaries arrive at Thatún. — Buddhagosa. -Talaings received their religion and alphabet from Ceylon.—The Burmese from the Talaings.-Karma and Nirvâna described.-Buddhism and Brahmanism compared.-Dāna or alms-giving.-Purity of Buddhist ethics.-Singular analogy of Buddhistic rites and observances to those of Romish Christianity. Early Roman Catholic missionaries in the East.-Their opinions regarding Buddhism.—Buddhism existent in the western world previous to the birth of our Saviour.-Gautama a saint in the Roman calendar. -Phongyees.-Rules of the Order.-The Novitiate.-Ordination.— Celibacy.-Diet.-The Habit.-The Order of Nuns.-Funerals.— Monasteries.-Education in Burma.-Monastic and lay schools.-System of education lately adopted by the British Government. — Difficulties regarding it. How overcome.-Success of the system.

DURING the progress of this work, I have attempted to give brief accounts of the politics, literature, art, and customs, and habits of the people of Burma. Properly to appreciate and understand a people, however, it is necessary to have, at least, some

knowledge of the religion they profess. I purpose, therefore, if it be but for ready reference, to give here a short description of Buddhism *-the old moral,and humanizing doctrine of the Ascetic of Kapilavastu. In ancient times, the religion of the people of Burma was Shamanism; in common with the great Nomadic races of High Asia, of which they are an offset. This debased system of spirit worship has been superseded by Buddhism; but it still lingers in the land, in the form of adoration and dread of nats or déwas, which order of beings

In the brief sketch of Buddhism given in this chapter, I have selected many of my arguments and leading points from Bigandet's "Legends of Gautama; " Hardy's "Eastern Monachism," and "Legends and Theories of the Buddhists;' "Buddhism" by Rhys Davids; Wassilief's "Der Buddhismus;" Max Müller's "Chips;" "Journal Asiatique," Mohl, 1856; and other eminent authorities on the subject.

+ The term nat is no doubt synonymous with Marco Polo's Natigay. In speaking of the religion of the Tatars he says:-"This is the fashion of their religion. They say there is a Most High God of Heaven, whom they worship daily with thurible and incense, but they pray to Him only for health of mind or body. But they have a certain other god of theirs called Natigay, and they say he is the god of the earth, who watches over their children, cattle, and crops. They show him great worship and honour, and every man hath a figure of him in his house, made of felt and cloth; and they make, also, in the same manner images of his wife and children." This account agrees generally with what we are told, too, of the original Shamanism of the Tunguses, which recognizes a Supreme Power over all, and a small number of potent spirits called Ongot.-Yule's "Marco Polo," v. ii., pp. 224-25.

The figures of Natigay, as illustrated in Yule's work, resemble in a remarkable degree the nats which are to be seen in Burma, carved in wood.

Sir Arthur Phayre, who is intimately acquainted with all that relates to Buddhism, remarks in a note on nats as follows:-"The modern Burmese acknowledge the existence of certain beings, which, for want of a better term, we call 'almost spiritual beings.' They apply to them the term nat. Now according to Burmese notions, there are two distinct bodies or systems of these creatures. The one is a regularly constituted company, if I may say so, of which Thagya-Meng is the chief. Most undoubtedly that body of nat was

have been adopted into the Buddhist system, and play a conspicuous part in the affairs of this world. This worship, though in opposition with the more exalted and purer doctrines of primitive Buddhism, is nevertheless, countenanced by the Buddhist priesthood, and a large portion of the worship of the Burmese, from the highest to the lowest ranks, consists in the performance of superstitious ceremonies, and offerings made for propitiating evil nats, and obtaining favours and temporal advantages from good ones.

The habitations of these nats are situated in the

unknown to the Burmese until they become Buddhists. Those are the real dewa or déwata.

"But the other set of nats are the creatures of the indigenous system, existing among all the wild tribes bordering Burma. The acknowledgment of those beings constitutes their only worship. On these grounds, I consider that the Burmese acknowledged and worshipped such beings, before they were converted to Buddhism.

"Now if they acknowledged such beings, they, no doubt, had a name for them, similar in general import to the 'fairy,' 'elf,' and so on, among the inhabitants of Britain, for beings of a quasi-spiritual nature. I may observe there is a complete analogy in the state of Burmese belief in the existence of such beings, and that which prevailed formerly in Europe, and some remnants of which may be found even now existing among the uneducated. I mean that before the Anglo-Saxon tribes were converted to Christianity, the belief in fairies and elves was universal. With Christianity came a belief in a different order of spiritual beings, and with that a new name, derived from the Latin-angel. This is somewhat analogous to the state of things among the Burmese before and after their conversion to Buddhism.

"But to return to the Burmese. They, when they received. Buddhism, appear to have generally retained their vernacular name for the beings called in Pali, déwa. Why this should be done is certainly not apparent. Why have the English and all the Teutonic nations retained the ancient names Evil and Spirits, though they adopted with Christianity a new term for good spirits generally? I allude to the term devil, which, there is no doubt, is philologically connected with that Pali word déwa or déva."

six lower heavens beyond the moon, rising in succession one above the other, and which, together with the abode of man, and the four states of punishment, form the eleven seats of the passions.*

Nats are endowed with forms of such ethereal nature, as to be able to transport themselves with the utmost rapidity to our sublunary world; and every mountain, tree, town, village, or other object of importance, is supposed to be under the protection of, and presided over by one of them. The Burmese also believe that there are spirits peculiar to our

* "In the Buddhist system there are thirty-one seats or abodes assigned to all beings, which are disposed on an immense scale, extending from the bottom of the earth to an incommensurable height above it. At the foot we find the four states of punishment. Next comes the abode of man; above it are the six seats of nats. These eleven seats are called the seats of passion, or concupiscence, because the beings residing therein are still subject to the influence of passion, though not to an equal degree.

"Above the abodes of nats are sixteen seats, called Rupa, disposed perpendicularly one above the other to an incalculable height. The inhabitants of those regions are called Brahmas, or perfect. They have freed themselves from concupiscence, and almost all other passions, but still retain some affection for matter and material things. Hence the denomination of Rupa, or matter, given to these seats. The remaining portion of the scale is occupied by the four seats called Arupa, or immaterials, for the beings inhabiting them are entirely delivered from all passions. They have, as it were, broken asunder even the smallest ties that would attach them to this material world. They have reached the summit of perfection; one step farther, and they enter into the state of Niebban or Nirvâna, the consummation, according to Buddhists, of all perfection. To sum up all the above in a few words,—there are four states of punishment. The seat of man is a place of probation and trial; the six abodes of nats are places of sensual pleasures and enjoyments. In the sixteen seats of Rupa are to be met those beings whose delights are of a more refined and almost purely spiritual nature, though retaining as yet some slight affection for matter. In the four seats of Arupa are located those beings who are wholly disentangled from material affections, who delight but in the sublimest contemplation, soaring, as it were, in the boundless regions of pure spiritualism."-Bigandet, p. 5.

The

earth, such as beloos, witches, with powers similar to those of medieval Europe, and priethas. The beloo is an ogre who haunts forests and solitary places, and feeds on human flesh. It has the face of a man with eyes of a deep red hue, and body of so subtle a nature as not to project a shadow. prietha is a being in a state of punishment on account of sins committed in former existences, and is doomed to live in the recesses of uninhabited mountains, smarting under the pangs of unsatiated hunger. Its body, and particularly its stomach, is of gigantic dimensions, whilst its mouth is so small, that the point of a needle can scarcely enter it. A remnant of tree worship exists in the veneration bestowed on the Bó-tree (ficus religiosa), which will be remarked upon hereafter.

We know that at least three religions preceded Buddhism in India: the wild devil-worship of the Aborigines, the religion of the Aryan invaders as represented in the Vedic hymns, and Brahminism, with its distinctive features of priestly mediation, caste, and pantheism.* In fact, Buddhism has been described " as little more than a revival of the coarser descriptions of the aboriginal races, purified and refined by the application of Aryan morality, and elevated by doctrines borrowed from the intellectual superiority of the Aryan races.' "As a part

"Fairburn's Studies," p. 130.